THE  LAND  OF 
THE  BLUE  GOWN 

MRS,  ARCHIBALD  LITTLE 


•THE- 

•JOHN  -FRYER- 
•CHINESE-  LIBRARY 


MAIN  LIBRARY 


IN  THE   LAND   OF  THE 
BLUE  GOWN 


*  •»»• 

•  *»• 
*•••     •«*• 


THE   VACANT   THRONE.      WANTED   AN    EMPEROR ! 

Of  black  carved  wood,  heavily  gilt,  cushioned  with  yellow  satin,  on  either  side  a 
wooden  fan  carved  and  painted  to  represent  the  feathers  of  a  bird  ;  screen 
behind  the  Dragon  Throne  very  magnificently  carved  and  gilt ;  cases  believed 
to  contain  robes  of  State. 

[  Frontispiece 


In  the 

Land  of  the  Blue  Gown 


By 

MRS   ARCHIBALD   LITTLE 

It 

Author  of 

"  Round  about  my  Pekin  Garden." 


"  Beware  the  fury  of  a  patient  man." — DRYDEN. 

"  I  think  the  immortal  servants  of  mankind, 

Who,  from  their  graves,  watch  by  how  slow  degrees 
The  World-Soul  greatens  with  the  centuries, 
Mourn  most  Man's  barren  levity  of  mind, 
The  ear  to  no  grave  harmonies  inclined, 

The  witless  thirst  for  false  wits  worthless  lees, 
The  laugh  mistimed  in  tragic  presences, 
The  eye  to  all  majestic  meanings  blind." 

WILLIAM  WATSON, 


NEW   YORK 
D.    APPLETON  AND  COMPANY 

1909 


Main  Lib. 
JOHN  FRYER 
CHINESE  LIBRARY 


[ALL   RIGHTS  RESERVED] 


It* 


PROLOGUE 

IT  was  for  war  correspondents  to  describe  Sir 
Edward  Seymour's  "  Forlorn  Hope "  in  answer 
to  despairing  telegrams,  the  siege  and  relief  of 
Tientsin  and  Peking,  together  with  the  subsequent 
punitive  expeditions  so-called.  Why  and  how 
the  Boxer  Movement  arose  in  China  is  still  a 
problem  to  many  minds.  As  some  help  to  its 
solution  I  here  attempt  to  picture  in  outline  the 
condition  of  things  before  the  uprising  of  1900, 
that  Annus  Funestus,  and  that  especially  in 
relation  to  us  foreigners  in  China,  just  as  in 
Intimate  China  I  tried  to  portray  the  Chinese 
people  as  far  as  possible  apart  from  foreigners. 
Beginning  with  the  decay  of  Peking,  the 
stagnation  of  Taku,  I  here  seek  to  reproduce  in 
black  and  white  the  picturesqueness  and  the 
mediaeval  usages,  the  drowsy  dulness,  then  unex- 
plained attacks  on  the  part  of  the  Chinese,  the 
equally  unexplained  absence  of  all  measures  on 
the  part  of  the  British  Government  to  prevent 
their  recurrence ;  then  again  the  friendliness  of 
the  people,  the  amiability  of  the  officials,  indica- 

V 

747741 


vi  PROLOGUE 

tions  of  progress  on  all  sides,  till  on  a  sudden 
came  the  thunderclap  of  1900,  with  here  and 
there  in  relief  against  the  blackness  of  the  follow- 
ing Typhoon  the  sympathetic  and  self-sacrificing 
kindliness  of  here  an  official,  there  a  peasant, 
here  a  trembling,  ignorant  woman,  there  an 
educated  man. 

May  those  who  read  these  pages  gain  at  least 
some  insight  into  the  many  redeeming  qualities 
of  that  last  survival  from  the  Past  of  Nineveh 
and  Babylon,  of  Alexandria  and  Pompeii — the 
Chinese  nation  of  to-day. 

ALICIA  BEWICKE  LITTLE. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  I 

MY    FIRST   VISIT   TO   PEKING:    BEFORE   THE   SIEGE 

PAGE 

Sewage  —  Expectant  Taotai  —  Decay  of  religion  —  The  spirit  of 
Peking — Flowers  and  trees — Grand  plan — Wasted  labour — 
Effect  of  government — Ming  masterpiece  versus  English  stream 
pollution  and  London  fogs  .....  I 

CHAPTER  II 

AUGUST    IN    CHEFOO 

Faint  but  fashionable — Serrated  outline — Good  masonry — No  amuse- 
ments— Finished  picturesque  effect — R.C.  Sisters — Insect  life — 
Missionaries'  side  efforts — Primaeval  Laurentian — No  way  out  .  13 


CHAPTER  III 

ON   THE   WALLS   OF   SHANGHAI    CITY 

Junks — Peeps  into  family  life — Great  man's  pursuivants — Silk- wind- 
ing— Trees — Birds — Hoar  frost  resisting — Pigtailed  pictures  of 
propriety  .......  23 


CHAPTER  IV 

INSIDE   SHANGHAI    CITY 

Motley  crowd  —  Jinrickshas  —  Wheelbarrows  —  Prisoners  —  Tea 
gardens — Opium  smokers — Sunflower  seeds — Birds — Peking 
bird  fair — Quack  cures — Musical  instruments — Tongue  scrapers  29 


viii  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  V 

INTO   THE  CHINESE  COUNTRY 

PAGE 

Graves — Beating  against  the  wind — Fields — Bridges — Pagoda — The 
hills— Ming  Hong  Temple— Village  factory — Praying  for  sick 
people — Bringing  home  the  bride  .  .  .  .40 

CHAPTER   VI 

APRIL   NEAR    NINGPO 

Ningpo  sights  —  Wild  azaleas  —  Bamboo  rafts  —  Tea  gardens  — 
Women's  dress— Temple  service— Priests — Ta  Lang  Shan— Old 
tea  bushes — Beautiful  ravine— Hair  stockings — Beautiful  houses 
— Birds'  nests — Snowy  Valley  travellers'  book— Carried  in  a 
clothes  basket — Unexpectedness — Variety  of  foliage — Chinese 
hospitality — Women's  hairpins — The  loveliest  valley — Rapids — 
Hundreds  of  paddy  birds — Lovely  River  Yung — En  route  for 
Tien  Dong — Rest  houses  and  free  tea — Monks — Different  types 
of  Buddha — Cost  of  trip  .  .  .  .  .49 


CHAPTER  VII 

SEPTEMBER    IN    WUHU 

Grand  pagoda — Missionary  houses — Lotus  ponds  and  sunflower 
avenues  —  Lovely  coloured  silks  —  Cormorants  —  Pheasants — 
Yellow  lilies  carved  out  of  the  living  rock — Sunset  lights — Re- 
puted bottomless  pit — Village  festival — Blue-gowned  men,  red- 
trousered  women — Looking  into  many  lives  .  .  .69 


CHAPTER   VIII 

THE   DRAGON    KING'S   CAVERN   AND   DOME:    ICHANG 

Conglomerate  formation — Dragon  King's  cavern  temple — Inside 
monastery — Dreary  country — Startling  precipice — Wen  Fo  Shan 
— Temples — Subterranean  lake — Dragon  boat — Life-like  Indian 
figure — Baby  priest — Mud — Broken  and  abrupt  yet  gracious 
gorges  —  Butterflies  —  Lizard  —  Dragon  fly  —  A  pedestrian's 
paradise ........  77 


CONTENTS  ix 

CHAPTER  IX 

FENGTU  I   THE   CHINESE    HADES 

PAGE 

Post  by  fire — Pluto's  priest— Covered  with  temple — Dry  well — Two 
wives  of  Emperor  of  the  Dead—  Gigantic  knife — Iron  well  cover 
— Our  protectors — Representations  of  Hades — Women  pilgrims 
— Getting  a  new  mast — Mobbing — Pious  priest — Pretty  women 
— Rippling  laughter  ......  89 


CHAPTER  X 
J 

CHEAP    MISSIONARIES 

China  inland  and  Mr  Horsburgh's  church  missions — Roman  Catholics 
— Ta-tien-tze — Hoang-mu  chang  —  Tachienlu  —  Protestants  at 
Kiatung — Suifu — Luchow  .....  96 


CHAPTER  XI 

LIFE   ON   A    FARMSTEAD  :    FIFTEEN    HUNDRED    MILES 
INSIDE   CHINA 

Prevented  from  building — Dragon  gate  harbour — Cleaning  ancestral 
shrine — Wearing  Chinese  clothes — Foot  bandages— Catching  a 
chill  —  Fall  of  thunderbolt  —  Washing  without  soap  —  Eldest 
daughter's  sad  tale — Golden  Buddha  mountain — Boar  hunt — 
Lilies — Cook's  marriage — Never  insure  shrimps  ! — Farm  visitors 
— Preparing  China  grass — Buying  popcorn — Pony  and  young 
man  with  pony — Weavers — Dinner  to  elders — Remains  of  the 
feast — Crackers — Tips — Dragon-claw  flower — Banyan  tree — 
Inn — Morning  walk — Impudent  coolie — Sleeping  under  a  walnut 
tree — Two  Swedes  killed — Young  Chinese  gentlemen  to  tea — 
Watching  thunderstorms — Dog's  sufferings — Dangerous  crossing 
— Ko-towing  to  the  thunder — To  a  temple  festival — Village 
schoolmaster — Family  owning  the  Chai — Defective  mails — 
Ginger — Calling  on  Mandarin  family — Old  lady's  coffin — 
Farmer's  coal  business— Mission  Hospital  refused — Robbery — 
Beating  children — Pony— Millet  stalks — Stripping  Indian  corn 
— Hibiscus  soup — Anniversary  of  grandfather's  birthday — Ladies 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

of  the  family — Cook's  method  of  bargaining — Burning  paper 
money — Packets  of  paper  cash — Rice  harvest — Blue  and  white 
cloths — Watching  silk  wadding — Pony's  memory — Farmer's  idea 
of  English  Buddhas— Runners  harrying  the  district— Invitation 
to  dine  at  temple — Lady  missionary — Questions  about  religion — 
Objectionablesmells — Pigs  dying — Cows  sent  to  gaol — Ten  taels' 
new  saddle — Chinese  manners — Special  wine — Ophthalmia — 
Dreadful  scene — Delightful  ride — Magic  lantern  show — Moving 
into  new  house — Dissipated  outside  broker — Tailor's  ideas — 
Under  torture — Poor  woman's  funeral  rites — Preparing  for  opium 
crop — Festival  cakes — Begging  for  mercy — Bad  Pusas — Musical 
pigeons — Deep  depression — Elder's  dinner — Flock  of  ducks — 
Too  much  festival — Shall  we  bow  before  you? — Moving  the  busi- 
ness— Theatrical  performance  and  dinner — Child  visitors — 
Offered  pupils  for  nothing — Door  by  which  evil  spirits  could 
enter — Magnificent  bedsteads — The  return  of  the  captive — 
Thieves  in  cages — Coolie  runs  away — Cook  married — New 
building  site  assigned  .  .  .  .  .  113 


CHAPTER  XII 

ANTI-FOREIGN    RIOTS    IN   WESTERN   CHINA 

Reason  of  riot — Placard  put  out — Suspicion  of  foreigners— Doctors 
first  attacked — Trying  to  escape— Watching  compound  burning 
— Canadians  hidden  in  a  bed  —  Disguised  as  a  dying  man — 
Americans  hidden  in  a  loft — French  Bishop  struck  with  an  axe 
— Viceroy  calling  out  to  mob — All  in  yamen — Outrages — Taotai 
Cheo's  proclamation  —  Governor  General's  proclamation  — 
Martial  law — Escorted  away — Attack  at  Kwanhsien — Man  with 
knife — Destruction  at  Kiating — Escaping  from  Yacheo — Com- 
ing upon  friends  at  Suifu — Recalled  from  Luchow — Priests 
driven  from  twenty  stations  .  .  .  *99 


CHAPTER   XIII 

FURTHER    ALARMS   OF   RIOTS 

Viceroy  expected  from  Chentu— Sixty  thousand  men  arriving  for  ex- 
aminations— Scuttling  of  Europeans — Martial  law — Ladies  leav- 
ing Chungking— Agent  of  Scotch  Bible  Society— Shut  up  in  a 


CONTENTS  xi 

PAGE 

yamen — Viceroy's  attempt  to  stop  telegram  to  Consul — Question 
of  firearms — Viceroy's  departure  deferred — Fighting  priests — A 
dozen  spears  stop  the  way — The  defence  of  Ta-tien-sze — Students 
arrived — Inspecting  the  rioting  of  your  own  house  .  .  217 


CHAPTER  XIV 

LITTLE    KNOWN   BORDER   TRIBES 

Our  travellers — Miss  Annie  Taylor — Boycotted  in  Sikkim — Round 
by  China — Difficulty  about  horses — Brigands  with  white  fur 
coats — Tibetan  chivalry  towards  women — Across  the  Yellow 
River  on  yak  skins — Goloks  rob  but  take  no  bribes — Observe 
laws — Golok  chieftain  a  woman — Washing  a  dying  Moham- 
medan— Difficulties  of  burial — No  cultivation — Traitorous  con- 
duct of  servant — Travelling  by  night  for  safety — Crossing  the 
Drichu — Gorgeous  military  chieftain — Horses  fed  on  goat's  flesh, 
tea,  butter  and  cheese — Joining  a  yak  caravan — Two  hundred 
yaks — Tibetan  morals — R.  C.  missions — Possibilities  of  conver- 
sion— Beautiful  Menia  young  men — Mrs  Pruen — Black-dressed 
aborigines — Women  dressing  for  the  dance — Dance,  flutes  and 
silver  necklets — Aborigines'  embroidery — Different  tribes — Hoa 
Miao — Head  ornaments — Cost  of  dress.  .  .  .  229 


CHAPTER  XV 

TABLE   DECORATIONS 

Flat  devices — Landscapes  in  flower  petals  and  leaves— Scorpions, 
dragons  and  ichneumons  made  out  of  flowers — Real  butterflies 
— Coloured  sand  and  sawdust  —  Fairy  lamps  made  out  of 
pumeloes — Chinese  eye  for  colour  .  .  .  247 


CHAPTER  XVI 

PART   I. — AN   ANTI-FOOTBINDING   TOUR   TO   HANKOW, 
WUCHANG,  HAN-YANG,  CANTON  AND  HONG-KONG 

Introductions — Chinese  officials  at  Hankow  meeting — Demand  for 
books — Women  who  had  unbound — Bandaging  for  her  own 
amusement — Diplomas  to  Chine  e  ladies — Dr  Kerr's  greatest 


xii  CONTENTS 

compliment — Chinese  post-captain  as  interpreter — Meeting  of 
bound  ladies — Pouring  rain — Interview  with  Li  Hung  Chang — 
Line  of  listening  servants — Writing  on  my  fan — Gift  to  Dr 
Fulton's  hospital — Li's  apparent  frankness — At  Hong-Kong 
City  Hall — Cheers  in  Chinese  club— Why  Chinese  laugh — Both 
feet  lost  through  binding — Young  girls' horror  of  us — Queen's 
College  young  men  storming  platform — Crowd  of  ladies  at 
Government  House — We  were  in  morning  dress  ! 


CHAPTER   XVII 

PART   II. — TO   MACAO,    SWATOW,    AMOY,    FOOCHOW, 
HANGCHOW   AND   SOOCHOW 

Sunshiny,  mediseval  Macao— Best  European  houses  Chinese  occupied 
— Chinese  girls  playing  billiards — Earnest  Christian  meeting — 
In  the  Portuguese  Club — Carnival — Free  passes  from  steamer 
companies — Swatow  method  of  binding — Kityang  unbinding — 
Three  years  regaining  natural  shape — Great  Chinese  society — 
Remarkable  family  of  literati — Canton  boat  shoe — Manchu  clog- 
like  shoe — Amoy  shoe — Language  difficulty — Two  interpreters 
at  meeting — At  the  Amoy  theatre — Taotai's  promises — Ladies' 
meeting — Foochow  a  centre  of  education — Pouring — American 
colleges — First-rate  interpreter — A  meeting  in  a  guild  hall — 
Young  reformers — In  memory  of  Lin — Anguished  child — Church 
Mission  and  ladies'  gathering — Tottering  ladies  supported  by  tall 
Amazons  with  silver  swords — Lovely  Chinese  buildings  adapted 
— Actejeunera.tt.hQ  Board  of  Foreign  Affairs — My  grandest  com- 
pliment— Treasurer  scoring — To  Hangchow — Again  a  dtjeuner 
at  Board  of  Foreign  Affairs — Taotai  permitted  no  binding — 
Written  for  Liang,  now  a  proscribed  rebel — Yangtze  viceroys  no 
leisure  for  correcting  essays — Ladies  in  rose-coloured  brocades — 
Athletic  young  lady — Medical  students'  defence  of  binding — 
Shoes  or  feet  ?  —  Very  elegant  ladies  at  Soochow  —  All  in  pale 
blue — Present  Chinese  fashions — Crowd — Fainting — joining 
society — Leaving  Soochow  full  of  hopes — Annus  Funestus — 
Chinese  firmness— Suffering  caused  by  footbinding— "  Hell  let 
loose" — Wanted  a  "Saviour  of  society" 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


THE   VACANT  THRONE.       WANTED    AN    EMPEROR  ! 
EXAMINATION   HALLS  OR  SHEDS  AT  CHENGTU       . 
ENTRANCE  TO   IMPERIAL  PALACE   . 
A  GRAND  PERSPECTIVE  !      . 

OPIUM  SMOKERS        ..... 
CHINESE  JUNK  ..... 

PRISONERS  WITH  CANGUES 
WHEELBARROW  WAITING  TO   BE  HIRED     . 
FISHING      WITH      CORMORANTS      FROM      BAMBOO 

RAFTS  AMONG  BAMBOO  GROVES 

THE  LAUGHING  BUDDHA    .... 
WINTER  SCENE   NEAR  SHANGHAI    . 
FOKIEN   GUILD  HALL  AT  NINGPO,   WITH   DRAGON- 
ENTWINED  STONE  COLUMNS     . 

BUDDHIST   PRIESTS  ..... 
ENTRANCE     TO     TIEN     DONG     MONASTERY     NEAR 
NINGPO  ..... 

BUDDHIST   PRIESTS  ..... 
MONASTERY       NEAR       ICHANG,       SHOWING       CON- 
GLOMERATE OR   PUDDING-STONE   FORMATION 
DRAGON   CAVERN   TEMPLE    .  .  .  . 

IN  SUMMER  TIME  UP  COUNTRY;   THOSE   MISSION- 
ARIES COME  TO  CONVERT 

DRAGON   BOAT    AND    UPWARD-BOUND    PASSENGER 
BOAT   AT  ICHANG  .... 

HEAD  OF  COLOSSAL  BUDDHA  AT  KIATING,  CUT 
OUT  OF  CLIFF  150  FEET  HIGH — TUFTS  OF 
GRASS  FOR  EYEBROWS  AND  MOUSTACHE, 
BUSHES  FOR  HAIR  .... 
SS.  LEE  OHUAH,  FIRST  STEAMBOAT  THAT  EVER 
ARRIVED  AT  CHUNGKING  ;  MY  HUSBAND 
MASTER  AND  OWNER,  HE  AND  I  THE  ONLY 
EUROPEANS  ON  BOARD 

xiii 


Frontispiece 
Facing  page          2 

2 

,,  12 

24 
24 
30 
30 


44 
44 
48 

54 

54 

64 
So 

So 


96 
96 

no 
"3 


xiv  LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

CHIN  FU  SHAN,  OR  GOLDEN  BUDDHA  MOUNTAIN, 
SAID  TO  BE  QOOO  FEET  HIGH,  ABOUT  THREE 

DAYS' JOURNEY  FROM  CHUNGKING     .  .      Facing  page      120 

DINNER  TO  VILLAGE  ELDERS,  THE  CITY  MEN 
STANDING  UP  TO  LEFT,  MY  HUSBAND  IN 
SHORT  WHITE  UNDER-COAT  AMONGST  THEM  ,,  128 

STORAGE     PLACE     FOR     COFFINS,     SHOWING    THE 

GREAT  THICKNESS  OF  THE  WOOD        .  .  ,,  144 

DRAGON     BRAYING    FOR    THE    SUN,     PAINTED    ON 

YAMEN  WALLS  ....  ,,  144 

THE  BOY  SAYING  HIS  LESSON  TURNS  HIS  BACK 
ON  THE  MASTER — "BACKING  THE  BOOK," 
AS  IT  IS  CALLED,  THUS  PREVENTING  ANY 
POSSIBILITY  OF  HIS  PEEPING  AT  IT  .  ,,  154 

CHINESE  LADY  SIMPLY  DRESSED  .  .  „  154 

LIMESTONE  PINNACLE  ....  ,,  l66 

RUINS  OF  ANCIENT  BRONZE  TEMPLE,  WAN-LI, 

FOURTEENTH     CENTURY,     ON     THE     TOP     OF 

MOUNT   OMI        ....  ,,  166 

OUR  HILLS,  WITH  THE  BUNGALOW  EVENTUALLY 
BUILT  THERE,  AND  MOUNTAIN  SEDAN  CHAIR 
IN  FOREGROUND  ....  ,,  IJ2 

TAOIST  HIGH  PRIEST   IN  FULL  CANONICALS,  WITH 

RUI,    i.e.,   SCEPTRE,    IN   RIGHT   HAND  .  ,,  l8o 

VIEW   FROM   OUR  DRAWING-ROOM  IN  CHUNGKING 

CITY,  ACROSS  THE   ROOFS  OF  A  GUILD  HOUSE 

AND  THE  GREAT  RIVER,  SHEWING  THE  OTHER 

SIDE  AND   ONE   RANGE  OF   LIMESTONE   HILLS  ,,  189 

OUR  NEW  PROPERTY  ON   THE   RIVER   BANK  .  ,,  198 

CHINESE  LITTLE   BOYS  .  .  .  .  ,,  198 

SIX  TIBETANS  :  MERCHANT,  CHIEFTAIN  WITH 
PRAYER  WHEEL,  TWO  DAUGHTERS  OF  THE 
INN  AT  TACHIENLU,  THE  ELDER  MARRIED 
TO  RICH  YUNNAN  MERCHANT,  AND  TWO 
SERVANTS  .....  ,,  232 

LOOKING  ACROSS  THE  UNNAVIGABLE  TUNG  AT 
THE  UNCONQUERED  LOLO  MOUNTAINS  j  MR 
ARCHIBALD  LITTLE  IN  FOREGROUND  .  „  238 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS  xv 

ONE  OF  THE  MANY  MONUMENTS  TO  AMITA  BUDDHA, 

O-MI-TO   FO,   ON   THE   TIBETAN    BORDER  .         Fating  page         238 

CHINESE  LADIES  OUT  PLEASURING  IN  A  GARDEN  ,,  248 

OFFICIAL'S  RETINUE — MEN  WITH  BAMBOOS  TO 
BEAT  BACK  CROWD  ;  THREE-PRONGED  FORKS 
FOR  CATCHING  THIEVES  BY  THEIR  CLOTHES, 
LARGELY  USED  IN  IQOO  FOR  KILLING 
ENGLISH  MEN  AND  WOMEN,  AS  WERE  ALSO 
THE  BIG  KNIVES  ...  ,,  254 

A  CHINESE  FAMILY  IN  PUBLIC  GARDENS,  HONG- 
KONG, JUST  ABOVE  GOVERNMENT  HOUSE     .  ,,  2?2 
MR  HO  SUI  TIN,  OF  MACAO           ...              ,,  279 
A  HONG-KONG  LADY  IN  BEST  DRESS        .           .              ,,              279 
FOOCHOW  FIELD  WOMAN  SELLING  VEGETABLES  .              ,,  290 

HAINING  SEA  WALL;  BOATS  WAITING  FOR  THE 

HANGCHOW  BORE,  A  GREAT  WAVE  ABOUT  2O 

FEET  HERE,   ONE  OF  THE  MOST  STIRRING 

SIGHTS  IN  CHINA        .  .  .  .  ,,  294 

WHAT  WE  HAD  TO  GET  OUR  BOATS  THROUGH    .  '  ,,  3O2 


L 


IN    THE    LAND    OF    THE 
BLUE    GOWN 

CHAPTER  I 

MY   FIRST    VISIT   TO    PEKING  :    BEFORE   THE    SIEGE 

/^\N  returning  from  Peking  I  still  thought  it 
the  most  wonderful  place  I  had  ever 
visited.  On  reaching  Tientsin  the  first  thing  we 
saw  was  the  then  newly-arrived  Thevenet  steam 
engine  and  rails,  and,  though  they  were  but  baby 
ones,  it  seemed  as  if  we  had  traversed  centuries 
since  three  days  before  we  rode  stumblingly 
through  the  Peking  gates.  Steamers  were  shrilly 
whistling  in  Tientsin,  men  hammering,  blue- 
jackets encouraging  their  donkeys  and  ponies 
along  the  Bund  in  true  English  style,  and  the 
fair  White  Ensign  floating  from  a  real,  live, 
modern  man-of-war  lying  off  the  Consulate  door. 
Three  days  before  long  strings  of  two-humped 
tawny  camels  were  the  baggage  waggons,  and 
every  whiff  of  air  we  breathed  assured  us  we  were 
in  the  pre-Sanitary  Period,  when  not  only  sewers 


2         IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

had  not  begun  troubling,  but  every  other  thing 
of  the  kind  was  unknown  except  that  last  modern 
development,  the  sewage  farm,  carried  on  just 
outside  most  of  the  gates  of  Peking — just  inside 
Tung-chow — and  so  regardless  of  odour  as  to 
make  one  doubt  whether  riding  into  the  country 
at  Peking  were  quite  as  delightful  as  it  is 
described. 

Wearied  of  London,  and  perhaps  somewhat 
overladen  with  the  cant  of  the  day,  aesthetic, 
hygienic,  and  social-economic,  I  can  imagine 
nothing  more  tonic  for  the  sufferer  than  a  sojourn 
in  Peking,  as  it  was.  Even  quinine  is  bitter  in 
the  taking.  And  what  are  not  the  after-effects 
of  those  yellow-tiled  imperial  pavilions,  glittering 
in  the  sun,  round  about  the  marble  bridge,  and 
up  the  Mei-shan !  Of  the  entrance  pavilions— 
Ting-erh  —  deepest  blue,  bright  green,  bright 
vermilion,  harmonised  by  golden  dragons,  im- 
perially taking  their  ease,  as  also  by  an  atmos- 
phere whose  transparency  makes  even  a  mud 
wall  beautiful!  The  after-effects  of  finding 
women — women  still,  though  for  centuries  wear- 
ing trousers  and  Lady  Harberton's  divided  skirts ! 
The  after-effects  of  mingling  with  a  people  most 
democratic,  and  yet  without  one  touch  of  Radi- 
calism, always  ready  to  make  way  for  Acknow- 
ledged Merit  in  the  person  of  a  mandarin  with 


ENTRANCE   TO   IMPERIAL   PALACE. 


EXAMINATION    HALLS   OR   SHEDS   AT   CHENGTU. 
To  face  page  2 .  ]  [  By  Mr  Davidson, 


MY  FIRST  VISIT  TO  PEKING  3 

eight  bearers,  and  a  crowd  of  retainers  on  horse- 
back! 

We  came  down  the  Peiho,  drifting  slowly  with 
the  current  but  against  the  wind,  in  company  with 
an  expectant  Taotai  and  his  following.  For  all 
the  world  he  might  have  been  the  sickly  scion  of 
a  noble  race  succeeding  to  inherited  honours,  as 
with  leaden  cheeks  he  smoked  and  smoked  and 
looked  at  us,  quite  expressionless,  never  speaking 
a  word.  But  we  tried  to  remind  ourselves  here 
was  Acknowledged  Merit,  waiting  its  reward. 
For  had  we  not  just  seen  the  outside  of  the  great 
Examination  Hall  at  Peking — one  mostly  used 
to  see  the  outsides  of  things  then — as  also  the 
Hall  of  the  Grand  Triennial  Examination,  where 
men  of  China  contested  for  the  highest  honours,  the 
names  of  the  successful  being  inscribed  on  imperish- 
able, huge  stone  tablets  for  all  after  ages  to  see. 

One  of  the  most  curious  things  in  China  is 
that  this  hall,  even  then  still  used  for  winning  the 
highest  honours  by  China's  most  distinguished 
men,  had  a  much  more  neglected,  discarded  air 
than  the  remains  of  the  dead  and  buried  Roman 
age  to  be  seen  in  Italy.  There  one  goes  into 
heathen  temples,  where  for  centuries  no  heathen 
rite  has  been  performed,  but  looking  much  more 
as  if  it  were  going  on  still  than  the  Chinese 
temples,  where  yet,  till  the  siege,  if  not  now, 


4        IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

magnificent  rites  were  at  least  twice  yearly  per- 
formed. The  Apollos  and  Jupiters  I  have  seen 
have  had  a  far  fresher  air  of  being  venerated  than 
the  Chinese  Buddhas  and  Goddesses  of  Mercy. 
Never  up  till  then  had  I  succeeded  in  seeing 
anywhere  the  smallest  fragment  of  religious 
service. 

It  may  be  true  that  China  is  still  Buddhist, 
or  Confucian,  or  Taoist.  But  I  believed  it  far 
less  after  a  few  months  in  China  than  before. 
For  there  was  no  evidence  of  it  beyond  the 
temples  and  the  images,  according  to  which  Rome 
would  be  Pagan  still.  I  remember  lionising 
foreigners  in  London.  We  went  to  Westminster 
Abbey,  and  the  service  was  not  over  yet.  They 
were  none  of  them  Christians,  and  were  greatly 
impressed  by  its  solemnity,  till  at  last  one 
sprightly  German  lady  visitor  whispered,  "  Could 
it  possibly  be  allowed  to  use  my  opera-glass  to 
look  at  this  beautiful  building  ? "  Who  would 
hesitate  to  use  an  opera-glass  in  a  Confucian 
temple  ?  We  went  on  to  the  House  of  Commons  ; 
they  were  at  prayers  there.  We  proceeded  to 
the  House  of  Lords,  but  were  not  allowed  even 
to  look  in,  for  the  Lords  had  not  yet  prayed,  and 
till  they  did,  according  to  the  policeman,  none 
must  even  look  in.  "  And  is  this  every  day — 
every  day  ?  "  asked  a  Swedish  professor,  solemnly. 


MY  FIRST  VISIT  TO  PEKING  5 

"  Then,  whether  it  is  from  the  heart  or  not  from 
the  heart,  still  I  say  your  England  is  a  wonderful 
country." 

China  struck  me  as  far  more  wonderful  in  its 
neglect  of  ordinances.  And  how  congenial  such 
neglect  is  to  the  human  heart,  is  abundantly  shown 
by  the  way  in  which  it  grows  upon  the  Europeans 
in  China.  Almost  all  my  life  I  have  lived  what 
is  called  abroad,  yet  I  never  but  once  heard  a 
lady  say  she  had  been  to  a  picnic  on  Sunday,  for 
instance,  till  I  came  to  China.  Here  it  seems  to 
be  the  rule  rather  than  the  exception.  "  It  is 
the  men's  one  day  for  getting  away,"  they  urge. 
But  this  could  be  said  with  more  force  in  smoky, 
foggy  Liverpool  or  London.  Where  in  all  the 
civilised  world  will  you  find  the  European  churches 
so  little  frequented  as  in  China  ?  I  am  often 
reminded  of  a  Commissioner  of  Customs'  remark  : 
"  The  Chinese  have  done  more  to  heathenise  the 
English  than  the  English  with  all  their  missions 
to  Christianise  them." 

Looking  at  that  huge  caravanserai  Peking,  I 
wondered  what  the  subtle  influence  was  that  even 
had  conquered  the  conquering  Manchus,  for  at 
first  sight  everything  seemed  so  overpoweringly 
repulsive,  so  beyond  all  exaggeration  disgusting, 
that  one  would  have  thought  that  its  present 
state  would  rather  serve  as  a  horrible  example. 


6        IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

Does  the  common  saying :  "  The  Chinese  care 
for  nothing  but  money,  talk  of  nothing  but 
money,"  explain  it  at  all  ?  So  far  I  could  not 
make  out  that  it  was  anything  else  the  Europeans 
wanted  to  get  out  of  the  Chinese.  Even  the 
very  missionaries  sent  out  to  teach  that  "  the 
love  of  money  is  the  root  of  all  evil "  seemed 
in  many  cases  to  have  caught  the  infection. 

There  are  charming  nursery  gardens  at  Peking. 
They  were  full  of  flowers  as  we  passed  by.  And 
everyone  coming  out  had  hands  full  of  tuberoses. 
The  Chien  Men,  the  principal  gate,  was  quite 
perfumed  with  rows  of  little  ptosprum  trees,  all 
in  full  flower,  waiting  to  be  sold.  As  the  Chinese 
seem  to  appreciate  flowers  solely  for  their  perfume, 
and  only  like  those  of  which  the  scent  is  very  rich 
and  luscious,  it  seems  they  must  be  so  happily 
constituted  as  to  have  organs  of  smell  capable  only 
of  conferring  pleasure.  For  disagreeable  odours 
they  seem  to  make  no  effort  to  remove. 

Seen  from  the  walls,  Peking  looks  rather  like 
a  park  than  a  populous  city,  it  is  so  full  of  trees, 
many  of  them  very  fine.  There  are  rows  of 
beautiful  trees  in  front  of  some  of  the  palaces, 
and  nearly  every  house  has  at  least  one  tree  in 
its  courtyard,  the  larger  courtyards  being  full  of 
them.  Indeed,  if  Peking  were  what  it  might  be, 
what  perhaps  it  once  was,  I  can  fancy  no  city 


MY  FIRST  VISIT  TO  PEKING  7 

grander.  Its  general  plan  is  on  such  a  magnificent 
scale.  One  appreciates  this  especially  looking 
from  the  Bell  Tower  at  the  Drum  Tower,  and 
vice  versd,  the  perspective  and  proportions  are  so 
admirably  arranged  to  enhance  the  effect  of 
distance  and  give  dignity  to  the  details.  So  that 
a  balcony  on  one  of  the  towers,  in  itself  not  so 
very  remarkable,  from  the  way  in  which  it  is 
placed  seemed  the  grandest  balcony  I  had  ever 
seen.  Indeed  the  Mongols  appear  to  have 
excelled  in  what  the  English  are  exceptionally 
deficient  in ;  witness  our  Law  Courts,  and  the 
chosen  site  for  the  new  Imperial  Institute,  which 
is  certainly  not  what  Kublai  Khan  would  ever 
have  sanctioned.  Probably  there  never  was  a 
city  more  grandly  laid  out  than  Peking:  its 
skeleton  is  gigantic  and  magnificent.  It  is 
interesting  extremely  as  a  survival  from  that  past 
of  which  we  have  so  often  read,  when  the  great 
people  lived  in  stately  palaces,  surrounded  by 
every  luxury — not  comfort — and  seldom  cared  to 
go  out,  or  if  they  did,  accompanied  by  trains  of 
lictors  or  retainers  to  beat  back  the  common 
people,  whose  very  breath  would  be  a  pollution 
of  their  majesty.  I  can  fancy  some  tenderer- 
hearted  woman  than  the  common,  some  larger- 
minded  youth  looking  from  his  sedan,  or  peering 
out  between  the  blinds  of  his  springless  cart  with 


8        IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

a  heart  full  of  great  pity  for  this  common  people 
with  their  mis-shapen  bodies,  and  their  skin 
diseases,  sometimes  but  one  miserable,  patched 
garment  scantily  covering  their  nakedness,  and 
yet  repelled  from  all  active  effort  to  ameliorate 
their  condition  by  its  very  horribleness  and 
degradation.  The  Peking  streets  seemed  full  of 
rowdies,  possibly  the  hangers-on  of  great  men. 
They  were  evidently  ready  enough  to  brawl  and 
be  insolent.  The  pity  of  the  pampered  great 
would  soon  merge  into  disgust  or  apathy  in  the 
sheltered  air  of  their  great  courtyards,  as  full  of 
shade-giving  trees  as  of  sunshine.  Every  now 
and  then  a  clean-faced,  self-respecting,  kindly- 
smiling  Mongol  woman  went  by  in  a  cart, 
evidently  full  of  amusement,  half  wondering  at 
the  city  and  its  ways,  just  as  we  read  of  good, 
quiet  souls  feeling  in  the  Middle  Ages,  as  in 
every  period  of  the  world's  history. 

Whether  Kublai  Khan  or  any  of  his  successors 
ever  got  his  city  clean,  and  what  we  should  call 
properly  kept  up,  no  history  tells  us.  But  certainly 
the  feeling  we  carried  away  from  Peking  was  a 
deep  regret  that  such  a  magnificent  conception, 
such  grand  proportions,  should  have  been  allowed 
to  be  thus  sullied.  And  returning  to  Tung-chow 
I  could  not  help  growing  hot  with  indignant  pity 
to  see  the  foulness  of  its  principal  street,  a  mass 


MY  FIRST  VISIT  TO  PEKING  9 

of  ruts  and  loathsomeness,  with  heavily-laden 
carts  struggling  along  it,  like  ships  in  a  storm  at 
sea,  the  gallant  little  ponies  and  sturdy  mules 
doing  their  very  best ;  the  brown,  brawny  men 
stripped  to  their  waists  doing  more  than  put  their 
shoulders  to  the  wheel.  Fighting,  struggling 
along  year  in  year  out,  it  is  pitiable  to  think  of 
human  nature,  ay  and  even  brute  nature,  put  to 
such  base  use — to  drag  a  heavily-laden  cart  or 
wheelbarrow  out  of  a  rut  which  should  not  exist. 
No  one  more  believes  in  the  nobility  of  manual 
labour.  But  then  it  must  be  in  manual  labour 
properly  applied,  not  wasted  impotently.  Let  the 
road  from  Tung-chow  be  repaired !  Then  it 
would  be  beautiful  to  see  the  men  and  beasts 
doing  their  best,  equally  as  now  earning  their 
daily  bread  in  the  sweat  of  their  brows,  but  con- 
ferring a  hundredfold  more  benefit  on  themselves 
and  others  in  the  doing  so.  I  still  see  the  scarred 
bodies  of  the  men,  the  prematurely  aged  faces, 
their  rough,  rude  manners.  I  have  seen  the 
sickly  faces,  the  diseased  heads  and  bad  eyes  of 
the  children  for  whom  the  Sisters  of  St  Vincent 
care.  People  say  the  Chinese  poor  do  not  suffer, 
but  laugh  and  are  light-hearted.  People  said  just 
the  same  of  the  negro  slaves.  They  also  laughed. 
Which  of  us  would  have  changed  places  with 
them,  or  would  now  with  the  poor  Chinese 


io      IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

working  man,  handicapped  as  he  is  by  so  many 
artificial  difficulties  ?  Each  day  the  case  of  the 
Chinese  poor  more  heavily  oppresses  me.  For  it 
is  not  owing  to  climate,  to  soil,  or  to  character. 
If  the  government  would  allow  it,  it  would  soon 
be  worth  someone's  while  to  repair  the  roads,  and 
keep  them  in  order,  and  remove  those  innumerable 
other  hindrances  to  intercourse,  which  must  at 
once  strike  every  European  going  to  and  coming 
from  Peking. 

I  felt  as  if  I  had  actually  arrived  at  the  Middle 
Ages  when  at  Amalfi  with  its  streets  of  stairs, 
quite  narrow,  and  often  quite  dark,  thus  affording 
at  every  step  an  ambush  for  the  lurking  ruffian, 
and  making  it  quite  impossible  for  a  noble  maiden 
to  walk  unattended,  or  indeed  to  walk  at  all  with- 
out sullying  her  white  garments  and  pure  soul. 
But  Peking  is  on  a  grander  scale,  and  belongs  to 
a  far  more  barbaric  period.  And  then  pervading 
all  Peking  was  the  mystery  of  the  Palace,  the  for- 
bidden City,  that  no  European  foot  had  ever  trod, 
that  the  boy  Emperor  had  never  left.  By  all 
report  the  present  Empress  must  be  a  woman  of 
great  energy  of  character,  of  indomitable  will, 
who  when  she  had  set  her  mind  to  a  thing  had 
never  yet  failed  to  carry  it  through.  Did  she 
love  power  for  its  own  sake  ?  Did  she  wish  to 
do  good  with  it  ?  Had  she  those  loving  thoughts 


MY  FIRST  VISIT  TO  PEKING  n 

of  dead  husband  and  of  mother  that  so  distin- 
guished our  own  Queen  Victoria  ?  She  is  a 
woman  after  all.  Did  she  at  times,  as  she  sat 
behind  the  curtain,  overhearing,  but  not  speaking, 
while  the  young  Emperor  sat  in  state,  his  coun- 
cillors kneeling  low  before  him — did  she  feel 
shackled  by  the  century-old  conventionalities  of 
China  ?  Or  did  she,  woman-like,  believe  in  the 
established  order  of  things,  and,  woman-like,  dread 
revolution  ?  It  would  seem  not,  if  it  were  really  true 
that  she  herself  wanted  to  occupy  the  European 
house  the  Bishop  Tagliabue  and  his  Fathers  had 
to  vacate  because  its  tower  overlooked  the  Palace 
garden.  She  had  especially  asked  that  Pere 
Armand  David's  valuable  collection  of  the  birds 
of  China  might  be  left  to  her  intact,  as  also  the 
organ  in  the  cathedral.  Rumour  said  she  in- 
tended to  make  an  audience  hall  of  this  latter, 
and  to  receive  foreigners  there.  If  that  were  so, 
if  foreigners  were  to  be  received  by  the  Empress, 
and  railway  trains  were,  as  I  then  heard,  very 
shortly  to  conduct  them  almost  to  the  gates  of 
Peking,  then  this  vast  survival  would  soon  be  a 
thing  of  the  past,  and  Peking  become  more  like 
other  cities. 

Would  it  gain  in  doing  so  ?  Sadly  I  remem- 
bered the  housekeeper  at  Buckingham  Palace 
saying  to  me,  "The  Shah  of  Persia  was  quite 


12      IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

like  a  gentleman,  lay  in  bed  on  Sunday,  and  all." 
And  the  ladies  of  the  hareem  in  various  countries 
seem  generally  to  signify  their  becoming  Euro- 
pean by  witnessing  a  ballet,  probably,  as  now 
conducted,  quite  as  much  a  survival  from  the 
past  as  the  city  of  Peking  itself. 

But  how  hard  it  is  to  look  on  anything  with 
quite  unprejudiced  eyes  !  As  my  heart  grew  hot 
within  me  looking  at  the  mass  of  struggling  men 
and  beasts  frantically  trying  to  get  their  carts  and 
wheelbarrows  along  the  stone  road — that  great 
Ming  masterpiece,  leading  from  Tung-chow  to 
Peking,  but  alas !  now  worse  than  no  road  at  all, 
so  that  everyone,  who  can,  gets  off  it  on  to  any 
waste  piece  of  land  by  the  side  ;  and  as  I  grew 
still  hotter,  thinking  what  the  scene  must  be  in 
the  blinding  heat  and  dust  of  summer,  or  in  the 
slush  and  frosts  of  winter,  I  wondered  how  our 
waste  of  all  our  sewage  to  pollute  our  streams 
and  seas  strikes  a  Chinese.  And  what  he  thinks 
of  our  apparent  indifference  to  the  deterioration 
of  property — not  to  say  of  human  life — and  hind- 
rance to  trade  and  locomotion  caused  by  the 
London  fogs,  quite  as  remediable,  probably,  as 
the  ruts  in  the  Tung-chow  road. 

Each  nation  gets  accustomed  to  its  own  short- 
comings, and  has  wide-open  eyes  for  its  neigh- 
bours'. 


CHAPTER  II 

AUGUST    IN    CHEFOO 

1VTOTHING  is  more  striking  in  China  than 
the  weary,  worn  looks  of  the  women — the 
European,  I  mean.  Why  they  should  fade, 
whilst  English  men  with  rosy  cheeks  bloom  in 
perennial  youth,  so  that  I  not  uncommonly  take 
men  of  thirty-five  for  boys  of  twenty-two,  has 
exercised  my  mind  ever  since  I  first  caught  sight  of 
the  European  community  on  the  Shanghai  race- 
course. Now  coming  to  Chefoo  has,  I  think,  at 
last  explained  it.  English  ladies  in  China  live 
tightly  girt,  and  gant-de-Sutded,  just  as  if  they 
were  going  to  drive  out  in  a  carriage  and  take  a 
turn  in  Hyde  Park  with  the  thermometer  in  the 
sixties.  Now,  as  for  months  together  here  the 
thermometer  seems  to  be  in  the  nineties,  this 
simply  means  that  for  months  together  the  ladies 
here  take  next  to  no  exercise,  and  in  some  cases 
none.  No  small  proportion  of  them  neither  play 
lawn  tennis  nor  ride.  Meanwhile  the  men  are 
walking,  rowing,  bathing,  shooting,  playing  cricket, 

tennis,  etc.,  etc.,  and  hence,  I  imagine,  the  rosy 

13 


14      IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

cheeks  of  the  one  and  the  pale  weariness  of  the 
others.  With  a  vivid  recollection  of  bathing 
places  in  the  north  of  France,  where  Parisian 
kldgantes  recoup  themselves  for  the  fatigue  of 
previous  toilettes  by  wandering  about  all  day  in 
the  loosest  and  plainest  and  most  convenient  of 
sacques,  or,  in  more  primitive  bathing  places  un- 
touched by  breath  of  English  propriety  and  pro- 
portionally dear  to  the  Parisian,  in  a  bathing  dress 
and  shawl  and  parasol ;  with  a  vivid  recollection 
of  these  French  bathing  places,  I  fully  expected 
that  cosmopolitan  China  would  strike  a  middle 
course  between  these  airy  garments  and  those  of 
the  English  seaside  place,  which,  with  its  brown 
holland  or  serge,  looks  alike  prepared  for  a  ten- 
mile  walk  across  country,  or  a  scramble  on  the 
rocks.  But  no !  I  have  seen  no  one  on  the  rocks 
yet,  I  have  seen  no  one  walking,  nor  even  sitting 
on  the  sand  by  the  seashore.  And  the  explana- 
tion is  not  far  to  seek.  Their  dresses  are  tight- 
fitting,  their  shoes  are  thin,  their  heels  are  high, 
and  in  this  hothouse  air  surcharged  with  moisture 
the  least  movement  must  produce  consequences 
disastrous  to  their  new  gloves.  Thus  cheeks  are 
pale  and  expressions  sad,  as  they  are  carried  to 
and  fro  in  sedan  chairs,  or  have  those  sedans 
placed  by  the  seashore,  where,  still  sitting  bolt 
upright  as  in  Hyde  Park,  they  can  continue  the 


AUGUST  IN  CHEFOO  15 

gossip  interrupted  in  Shanghai.  In  itself  Chefoo 
is  well  enough,  the  air  is  fresh  in  spite  of  the  heat, 
the  sea  is  as  blue  as  heart  could  wish.  What  with 
the  stars  and  the  wonderfully  bright  summer  moon 
the  nights  are  only  too  brilliantly  lighted  without 
electricity,  and  though  the  country  a  little  recalls 
that  described  by  Southey  in  the  "  Curse  of 
Kehama,"  there  being  barely  a  tree  or  a  green 
leaf  to  be  seen  anywhere,  yet  the  wonderfully 
varied  indentations  of  the  bay  and  the  serrated 
outline  of  the  range  of  hills,  that  shut  it  in  to  the 
west,  place  Chefoo  high,  very  high  for  picturesque- 
ness,  if  compared  with  Blankenbergh  or  Scheven- 
ingen,  and  bring  it  into  the  same  category  with 
Holyhead  or  Etretat. 

It  reminds  me  a  good  deal  of  Holyhead,  in- 
deed, when  one  crosses  over  to  Tse  Fu  T'ou,  the 
real  Chefoo,  at  the  other  side  of  the  harbour,  and 
climbing  one  of  the  hills  there  sits  looking  out 
seaward,  with  Corea  and  Japan  taking  the  place 
of  much  troubled  Ireland  as  the  only  land  between 
that  bare  hillside  and  the  vast  continent  of  the 
Americas.  Holyhead  has  the  same  blue  sea,  and 
is  possibly  about  the  same  height  out  of  the  water 
as  one  of  these  hills,  but  it  certainly  more  vividly 
recalls  the  wintry  storms  that  have  raged  against 
it,  and  in  so  far  is  grander.  On  the  other  hand  it 
does  not  look  out  upon  the  enchanting  panorama 


16      IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

of  fairy  blue  mountains  to  the  south,  that  look  as 
if  they  had  stepped  out  of  Arabia  Petrsea,  and 
never  a  drop  of  rain  fallen  upon  them  since  the 
creation  of  man.  And  it  certainly  has  not  got  the 
stone  masons  of  the  real  Chefoo,  the  village  of 
Tse  Fu,  nor  of  the  town  and  watering-place  that 
have  usurped  the  name,  and  are  popularly  known 
amongst  Europeans  as  Chefoo.  Chefoo's  speci- 
ality is  walls,  walls  of  irregularly-hewn  blocks  of 
stone  adroitly  fitted  together,  cemented  with  raw 
mortar  and  eminently  fitted  to  resist  a  siege. 
The  meanest  house,  and  there  are  in  reality  no 
mean  houses  in  the  neighbourhood,  has  a  wall  that 
a  fortress  in  any  other  country  might  envy.  And 
everything  seems  finished  off  thoroughly  well,  and 
with  the  greatest  care,  and  excellent  taste,  the 
windows,  the  doors,  the  roofs,  the  sides  of  the 
inner  courtyards  painted  in  panels  black  and  white, 
with  sometimes  an  additional  black  and  white 
design,  simple  but  elegant. 

The  European  colony  has  done  its  part 
bravely ;  it  has  got  a  cool,  airy,  solid-looking 
club,  which  with  the  greatest  liberality  is  thrown 
open  to  ladies  in  the  morning  hours.  There  are 
a  lawn  tennis  club,  and  churches  and  chapels  to 
suit  most  varieties  of  thought.  What  the  Euro- 
peans of  Chefoo  can  do  for  their  visitors  has  been 
done  and  done  well.  They  have  even  got  the 


AUGUST  IN  CHEFOO  17 

Taotai  to  forbid  the  bathing  of  Chinese — undraped 
—before  the  European  hotels.  But,  on  the  other 
hand,  no  one  fresh  from  Europe  can  fail  to  be 
struck  by  a  certain  absence  of  life  due  to  the  want 
of  initiative  on  the  part  of  the  Chinese.  Not  even 
to  make  money  out  of  us  do  they  put  themselves 
out  to  welcome  us.  No  pretty  sailing  boats  with 
gaudy  flags  tempt  you  for  filthy  lucre.  No 
woman  offers  chairs  for  cash  upon  the  sands.  No 
girls  with  flowers  perfume  the  air.  No  ponies, 
not  even  the  well-beloved  donkeys  with  red 
trappings,  stand  for  hire  at  the  corners  of  the 
streets.  No  sedan  chairs  ply  for  hire.  Even  the 
old  familiar  but  most  unbeloved  seaside  music  is 
missed  from  the  sands  of  Chefoo. 

The  thermometer  soon  rose  to  ninety-two  in 
the  house,  and  the  north-east  breeze,  which  was 
so  refreshing  when  we  arrived,  changed  into  a 
south-west  wind,  which  yet  brought  not  the  long- 
wished-for  rain,  the  sun  still  shining  out  of  a 
molten  sky  upon  the  evidences  of  drought  all  round. 

Thus,  in  spite  of  rocky  islands,  so  called  Bois 
de  Boulogne,  Bamboo  Temple,  and  Lighthouse  all 
to  visit,  in  spite  of  the  bathing,  and  sailing  and 
riding,  I  missed  a  little  the  lively  hucksters  of 
European  sands,  the  various  and  novel  and 
decidedly  somewhat  exciting  negligee  costumes  of 
the  Continent  of  Europe.  Friends  in  England 


18      IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

wonder  I  do  not  find  China  more  amusing.  So  do 
I.  But  countries  differ.  And  much  though  I 
love  England  I  doubt  its  being  at  all  an  amusing 
country  for  a  foreigner  to  travel  in.  Anyway  I  did 
not  even  find  Chefoo  amusing,  although  it  was 
then  China's  one  sea  bath,  and  it  was  the  height 
of  the  Chefoo  season  before  we  came  away.  The 
summer  heat  was  then  a  thing  of  the  past,  although 
the  bright  settled  autumn  weather  with  its  steady 
wind,  by  which  you  can  sail  outwards  every  morn- 
ing and  count  on  sailing  homewards  every  evening 
in  time  for  dinner,  had  not  asserted  itself.  For  we 
still  had  occasional  rainstorms,  and  one  day 
''drizzling  drearily"  just  as  it  might  at  home. 
Yet  there  was  nothing  to  complain  of  in  the 
weather.  It  was  cool  and  pleasant,  yet  not  chilly  ; 
you  could  be  out  all  day,  and  yet  you  could  sit  out 
even  in  the  evening  with  impunity.  At  the  same 
time  I  was  getting  a  little  tired  of  the  mise-en- 
scene.  The  modern  stage  has  demoralised  us 
into  expecting  a  constant  change  de  dtcors,  and  so 
though  the  view  from  our  verandah  was  quite  eye- 
satisfying — for  what  can  one  want  more  than  to 
look  across  a  Chinese  artistic  railing,  between 
artistic  Chinese  reed  blinds,  on  to  a  sea  bluer  than 
blue,  finished  off  opposite  with  islands  and  light- 
house, finished  off  to  the  left  by  the  out-jutting  hill 
with  its  bungalows  and  outcropping  rocks,  with  at 


AUGUST  IN  CHEFOO  19 

low  water  delicious  green  reflections  in  the  sea 
below  ?  yet  one  sighed  for  some  variety.  Some- 
times a  procession  of  Roman  Catholic  Sisters, 
with  bloodless,  but  radiant  faces,  ash-white  veils 
hanging  backwards,  ash-white  garments  sweeping 
to  the  ground,  looking  at  a  little  distance  like 
corpses  in  their  grave  clothes,  stood  upon  the 
rocks  or  passed  along  the  sands.  Every  night 
the  lighthouse  lighted  up,  every  morning  the  sun 
rose  out  of  the  sea.  I  could  see  it  as  I  lay  in  bed 
if  I  liked,  but  I  longed  for  a  change  of  scene 
instead  of  just  those  light  effects,  which  we  have 
seen  upon  the  stage  so  often  to  the  sound  of  soft 
music,  heralding  the  advent  of  the  villain  or  the 
heroine  all  in  white  and  with  dishevelled  hair. 

At  Chefoo  it  seemed  impossible  to  change  the 
scene.  Tramp,  tramp  along  the  sands,  always  the 
islands,  the  hill,  the  blue,  blue  sea,  and  the  light- 
house, lighted  up  at  the  same  hour.  Even  if  one 
climbed  those  arid  mountain  sides,  without  ever  a 
blade  of  grass  waving  over  their  proud  dryness,  it 
would  be  still  the  same.  I  had  been  to  the  top  of  the 
highest  hill  on  the  Tse  Fu  side.  It  was  just  after 
sunset,  and  the  scene  was  wonderfully  animated ; 
great  big  insects,  a  cross  between  a  cockroach  and 
a  spider,  made  the  paths  lively  ;  praying  mantises, 
or  their  first  cousins,  the  Chinese  call  them 
wrestlers,  knelt  piously,  all  in  green  ;  innumerable 


20       IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

dragon  flies  with  large  gauzy  but  colourless 
wings  darted  on  their  prey,  whilst  the  swifts  in 
their  frantic  excitement  after  food  fanned  my 
cheeks  with  the  air  made  by  their  wings.  I 
longed  to  stop  there,  it  was  so  lively.  But  the 
dire  necessity  for  dining  drove  me  back  to  our 
silent  sands,  lonelier  than  ever,  now  the  cessation 
of  the  great  heat  permitted  people  to  make  picnics 
and  generally  go  about. 

There  were  four  missionary  establishments  in 
Chefoo.  How  far  they  all  served  the  purpose  for 
which  they  were  intended  of  converting  the 
Chinese,  I  had  no  possible  means  of  knowing. 
But  I  could  not  help  noticing  what  other  excellent 
work  they  were  doing  alongside  of  their  central 
object.  Dr  Nevius  of  the  American  Mission  had 
introduced  a  kind  of  pear  for  which  every 
September  visitor  to  Chefoo  ought  to  thank  him, 
so  juicy  and  delicious  in  flavour  is  it  as  it  melts  in 
the  mouth.  Chinese  have  got  grafts,  and  offer 
pears  from  them  for  sale  in  the  market,  and  the 
comparatively  high  price  they  so  far  command 
may  probably  lead  to  the  conversion  of  a  good 
many  more  Chinese  as  far  as  pear  growing  goes. 
They  do  not  seem  yet  to  have  taken  so  kindly  to 
the  varieties  of  grapes  the  same  good  doctor  had 
introduced,  and  which  decidedly  beat  the  grapes 
of  Madeira,  even  in  its  palmiest  days,  as  well  as 


AUGUST  IN  CHEFOO  21 

the  grapes  of  Me* ran,  and  were  simply  the  sweetest 
and  most  luscious  I  had  ever  tasted.  It  was 
Roman  Catholic  missionaries  who  introduced  the 
potato  into  China.  It  is  to  missionaries  we 
almost  always  have  to  turn  for  information  about 
the  languages  and  customs  of  little-known  peoples. 
Even  where  their  direct  efforts  to  change  the 
hearts  and  ways  of  life  of  those  they  go  amongst 
do  not  succeed,  it  would  be  impossible  to  over- 
estimate the  indirect  results  produced  by  a  body 
of  men  and  women  on  the  whole  so  energetic  and 
devoted.  I  saw  but  little  of  missionaries  in 
Chefoo,  and  probably  that  is  why  I  learnt  so  little 
about  the  province  of  Shantung,  which  is  the  classic 
ground  of  China,  and  one  of  its  oldest  provinces. 
Its  rocks  are  of  that  primeval  Laurentian,  which 
crops  up  at  the  Malvern  Beacon  and  then  is  not 
found  again,  till  it  forms  the  shores  of  the  St 
Lawrence.  It  is  seen  again  at  Chefoo.  Little 
garnets  are  to  be  found  among  its  sparkling  mica 
schist,  and  very  lovely  are  its  white  marble,  and 
pink  limestone. 

We  of  the  settlement  hardly  got  beyond 
walking  round  the  hill,  or  wandering  on  the  yellow 
sands  looking  at  the  sea.  It  required  so  much 
energy  for  us  to  set  off  towards  those  cragged  hills 
that  shut  us  in,  for,  unless  we  guided  our  steps 
very  adroitly,  we  were  sure  to  find  ourselves 


22       IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

entangled  among  dirtiest  Chinese  houses  with 
gutters  by  the  side  of  the  street,  that  on  a  small 
scale  emulate  those  of  Peking  for  filth  and  odour. 
The  Chinese  town  is  not  large,  but  it  is  straggling, 
and  it  has  smells  all  China's  own,  such  as  one  does 
not  care  to  encounter  the  last  thing  coming  in 
hungry  for  dinner.  With  its  polypus  arms  it 
enfolded  us,  till  for  want  of  roads  we  lamented  "  I 
can't  get  out "  like  the  starling  of  song  celebrity. 
If  Chefoo  had  only  a  different  background,  what 
a  delightful  seaside  resort  it  would  be  !  As  it  was 
it  reminded  me  of  that  cat  of  which  Alice  said  :  "  I 
have  often  seen  a  cat  without  a  grin,  but  never  a 
grin  without  a  cat  before."  It  has  a  coast  outline, 
three  hotels,  excellent  bathing,  and — nothing 
more  ! 


CHAPTER   IV 

ON    THE   WALLS    OF    SHANGHAI   CITY 


tide  is  coming  in  fast  and  the  north-east 
breeze  is  fresh.     It   is  hardly  possible  to 
write  for  looking   at   the  junks  passing  so  fast 
up  stream  by  the  windows  —  each  with  five  sails 
on  five  different  masts.     Here  comes  one  with 
sails  of  ruddy  brown,  like  a  ripe  chestnut  in  the 
sun.     Here  comes  a   steamer   with   a  European 
flag  :  an  ocean  tramp  !     Many  a  weary  mile  has 
she  coasted  to  get  her  freight,  which  she  carries 
at  charges  that  may  or  may  not  pay.     Yet  seen 
from   this   distance   she   looks   swift  and  jaunty 
in  among  the  heavy  junks.     The  sun  shines,  the 
fresh  breeze  blows  invitingly  ;  it  is  hard  to  resist 
the  temptation  to  take  hat  and  gloves  and  go 
out.     But  pass  on,   brown   sails  !     Pass  on,   red 
sails  !   I  will  not  look  at  you.     Yet  —  surely  that 
is  the  smoke  of  a  steamer  in  the  far  reach.     Can 
it  be  —  is  it?     It  is!     The  home  mail!     But  the 
two  guns  have  not  yet  sent  a  thrill  through  all 
the  Shanghai  colony  of  Europeans  :  telling  one 
of  home  and  mother,  home  and  child,  home  and 

23 


24      IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

wife ;  telling  another  of  teas  sold  at  a  loss  of 
3d.  in  the  pound,  or  silk  not  on  demand.  Even 
when  the  guns  have  sounded,  the  letters — the 
pleasant,  chatty,  hand-and-heart-pressing  home 
letters — cannot  be  delivered  that  very  minute. 
There  is  still  time  to  describe  my  last  walk  round 
the  walls  of  that  little-known  city  the  Shanghai 
Chinatown.  Hitherto  our  walks  have  chiefly 
been  confined  to  the  grass-plats  of  the  Bund, 
with  its  motley  crowd,  watching  the  boats  go  by. 
There  goes  another,  distinctly  recalling  the  old 
Venetian  galleys  in  Tintoretto's  pictures,  and 
there  swiftly  rides  up  stream  an  old  Viking  barge. 
"  Freighted  with  Curses !  "  I  see  it  so  called,  and 
hung  on  the  walls  of  the  Academy.  This  with 
the  eyes  of  the  imagination,  of  course.  In  reality 
it  is  an  honest  Chinese  junk  returning  lightly 
laden. 

The  European  colony  of  Shanghai  rarely  stirs 
beyond  the  foreign  settlement ;  men  who  have 
been  twenty  years  in  China  and  do  not  speak 
a  word  of  the  language,  as  they  boast,  have 
never  set  foot  in  the  Chinatown,  which  they 
verily  believe  to  be  the  dirtiest  in  China.  But 
it  takes  a  great  deal  to  be  that.  Anyhow,  round 
its  walls  you  get  a  five-mile  walk — a  short  five 
miles  probably — all  flat,  and  with  fresh  country 
air  as  you  pass  to  the  country  side  of  the  city. 


CHINESE  JUNK. 


[By  Mr  R.  Beauckamp. 


OPIUM  SMOKERS.     Note  elegant  accessories. 
To  face  page  24 .]  [By  Mr  Mencan  ni. 


ON  THE  WALLS  OF  SHANGHAI  CITY      25 

On  the  other  you  have  the  advantage  of  taking 
quiet  peeps  into  Chinese  interiors  and  Chinese 
street-life  by  turns,  unjostled  and  at  your  ease. 
It  is  pleasant  to  watch  a  family  of  carpenters  at 
work ;  the  eldest  boy,  whenever  the  glue-pot 
requires  warming,  refreshing  with  bellows  the  fire 
burning  on  the  floor  in  the  midst  of  the  shavings, 
the  younger  children  playing  about  and  admiring, 
and  thinking  they  too  will  be  carpenters  some 
day.  A  little  girl  holds  up  to  us  an  extremely 
fine  baby  she  is  nursing.  "Would  not  you  like 
to  have  him?"  she  asks.  "  Yes,  throw  him  up," 
we  reply.  Then  they  all  laugh  delighted,  the 
little  nurse  herself  almost  overcome,  what  with 
laughter  and  the  very  big  baby.  In  this  room 
we  see  them  washing  the  floor — we  feel  glad 
they  do  that  sometimes — cooking,  working,  en- 
joying— that  ideal  of  the  Chinaman — "  elegant 
leisure."  A  few  steps  further  on  we  look  down 
upon  a  street  just  by  an  entrance  gate.  It  is 
pleasant  to  watch  the  crowd  in  the  narrow  street, 
from  so  near  yet  from  above,  completely  at  our 
ease.  Here  is  the  entrance  to  a  yamen ;  the 
great  man  is  evidently  about  to  sally  forth. 
Several  little  boys  have  been  impressed  into 
his  service  as  pursuivants  or  outrunners.  They 
are  delighting  in  bright  scarlet  coats  thrown 
over  their  dirty  rags,  in  their  conical,  old-world 


26       IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

caps,  somewhat  distantly  related  to  college  caps, 
yet  with  something  of  the  jester's  bells  about 
them  also.  But  what  they  are  especially  delight- 
ing in  just  now  is  the  long  tail-feathers  of  the 
Reeves  pheasant :  not  quite  two  yards  long,  but 
getting  on  for  it.  These  they  are  brandishing 
about  before  sticking  them  in  their  caps  to  walk 
in  procession.  In  one  part  of  the  walls  the  path 
has  been  encroached  upon,  not  as  so  often  in 
China  for  a  rope-walk,  but  for  a  silk-walk.  A 
boy  with  two  small  shuttles  seizes  hold  of  the 
light  weight  attached  at  one  end  of  the  silken 
cord,  and  with  a  few  dexterous  turns  sets  the 
whole  cord,  composed  of  several  fibres,  spinning. 
Then  the  next,  then  the  next ;  and  so  on  till  five 
silken  threads  are  being  spun  by  hand  without 
the  aid  of  machinery.  At  the  other  end  there 
are  weights  hanging  to  keep  them  taut.  But  the 
other  end  is  a  long  way  off;  and  as  we  walk 
along  it  is  hard  to  avoid  brushing  against  the 
prettily-coloured  silken  threads.  Here  is  a  man 
winding  them  into  skeins.  He  enters  into  con- 
versation. It  seems  the  soldiers  make  an  honest 
penny  by  letting  off  some  parts  of  the  walls  for 
silk  -  winding.  They  also  let  off  the  guard- 
houses ! 

The   general  effect,  looking   down  upon  the 
city,    presents    one   comical    feature.     Everyone, 


ON  THE  WALLS  OF  SHANGHAI  CITY      27 

who  can,  has  a  tree,  and  some  of  the  trees  are 
fine.  The  Chinese  differ  from  the  English  in 
that  they  devastate  the  country  of  trees,  but 
carefully  preserve  them  in  their  cities.  We,  on 
the  other  hand,  have  sadly  treeless  towns.  But 
the  comicality  of  the  view  lies  in  the  fact  that 
each  of  these  Chinese  trees  serves  a  purpose ; 
for  on  each,  high  aloft,  is  a  bird-cage.  The 
houses  that  do  not  run  to  a  tree  have  a  tall 
bamboo,  and  tie  on  to  it  a  bough  or  two — to 
make  believe  for  the  bird  doubtless.  Each  of 
these  cages  can  be  run  up  and  down  with  ease 
like  a  flag  by  their  haulyards ;  and  we  met 
several  of  them  being  carried  along,  that  their 
inmates  might  enjoy  the  air  upon  the  walls. 
The  latter  evidently  appreciated  the  attention, 
for  they  were  singing  to  their  heart's  content. 
They  were  for  the  most  part  a  kind  of  thrush, 
Hoa-mei,  or  Flowery  Eyebrows.  Evidently  the 
one  great  joy  of  a  Chinaman's  life,  the  creature, 
with  whose  joys  and  sorrows  he  sympathises,  is 
a  song-bird.  Chinamen  love  chrysanthemums, 
the  hoar-frost-resisting  flowers  as  they  call  them  ; 
but  their  pets  and  their  companions  are  birds. 
We  passed  by  a  woman  gathering  a  sort  of  tiny 
yellow  chrysanthemum,  growing  wild  upon  the 
walls,  with  which  to  dress  combs  to  decorate 
women's  hair.  Sometimes  they  have  a  stiffer 


28      IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

arrangement  in  green  berries.  Everyone  we 
met  seemed  as  usual  very  chattily  inclined  ;  but 
some  begged,  and  a  few  silly  children  called  us 
by  the  Shanghai  name  for  foreigner,  a  corruption 
of  the  Portuguese  "ladraos" — i.e.,  robbers.  We 
had  not  time  to  explore  a  picturesque  temple 
nestled  into  a  very  quiet,  remote  corner  of  the 
walls.  The  sun  was  already  sinking  fast  —  a 
golden  red  ball — casting  long,  purple  shadows 
over  the  surrounding  plain ;  and  so  we  hurried 
homewards;  though  much  wishing  to  make  the 
acquaintance  of  a  little  colony  on  an  island  in 
the  Chinatown — an  island  only  cut  off  from  the 
rest  of  the  world  by  open  sewers  or  streams  of 
filth,  but  built  upon  with  such  exquisite  neatness 
that  one  longed  to  know  who  the  people  were. 
They  had  made  a  very  tidy  bridge  for  them- 
selves with  a  cane  fence  across  it,  in  that  a  cane 
door,  and  behind  again  another  screen.  Fences, 
walls,  gates,  and  all  were  tidiness  itself;  and 
walking  across  the  bridge  were  two  Chinamen 
in  sombre  garments,  pig -tailed  pictures  of 
propriety.  But  the  mail !  Now  let  us  forget 
China  and  be  in  England  once  again,  each  in 
familiar  intercourse  with  his  or  her  own  people ! 


CHAPTER   IV 

INSIDE    SHANGHAI    CITY 

HP  HE  first  thoroughly  pleasant  afternoon  I 
ever  spent  in  Shanghai  was  when,  without 
a  card-case — Shanghai  is  the  city  of  many  calls — 
a  little  company  in  rickshas,  we  careered  along 
the  Bund,  always  a  most  animated  scene  with  its 
very  motley  crowd  of  long  pigtailed,  short  velvet- 
coated,  blue-gowned  Chinamen  ;  Sikh  policemen 
of  magnificent  proportions,  grimly  bronzed  faces 
and  turbans  of  startling  scarlet,  as  also  of  startling- 
height  ;  and,  mingled  amongst  them,  coolies 
crooning,  "  Eh — ah !  Eh — ah  !  "  as  they  carried 
packages  suspended  from  bamboos  ;  Parsees  with 
their  curious  high,  cylindrical  hats  ;  Jews  of  many 
nationalities  but  one  type,  Portuguese,  French, 
English,  etc.  etc. ;  a  few  blue-jackets  encouraging 
their  ricksha  men,  as  if  they  were  donkeys,  by 
good-naturedly  ineffective  blows ;  one  or  two 
bound-foot  Chinese  women  looking  on  amused, 
and  a  wedding  procession,  mostly  scarlet,  threading 
its  way  deftly  in  and  out  among  the  "  Barbarians." 
Suddenly  we  caught  sight  of  men  carrying  baskets 

full — but  full  to  overflowing — of  brilliant  purple 

29 


30      IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

and  green  Muscovy  ducks,  all  craning  their  necks 
to  look  about  them,  and  flashing  in  the  sunshine. 
At  once  our  spirits  rose,  we  nodded  admiration  to 
one  another,  turned  down  a  long,  narrow  street 
past  the  old  French  Consulate,  and  opposite  to  it, 
right  opposite  to  it,  apparently  under  the  special 
protection  of  France,  we  saw  the  great  opium 
den  that  has  ruined  more  Chinamen  than  any 
one  given  place  in  China.  We  turned  another 
corner,  sprang  out  of  our  rickshas,  and  proceeded 
to  that  little  visited,  almost  unknown  city,  the 
Chinese  town  of  Shanghai. 

But  not  so  quickly !  easier  said  than  done. 
Jinrickshas — that  delightful  missionary  invention, 
originally  called  Jen-li-che  or  man-power  carriage, 
but  quickly  corrupted  into  Jen-ri-che  by  Japanese, 
who  hear  no  difference  between  r's  and  1's — jin- 
rickshas can  run  no  longer  through  the  narrow, 
crowded  Chinese  streets,  but  there  are  a  whole 
array  of  wheelbarrows  waiting  to  be  hired.  The 
street  is  narrow,  the  turns  are  sharp,  and  one 
wheelbarrow  man  is  determined  we  shall  at  least 
hire  him.  He  wheels  against  us  here,  he  wheels 
against  us  there,  he  blocks  the  way,  he  is  in  front 
and  behind  us  all  at  once.  And  all  the  while  so 
good-humoured  and  silent,  it  is  impossible  to  be 
otherwise  than  good-humoured  and  silent  also. 
But  at  last  we  get  through  the  wheelbarrow  men, 


WHEELBARROW    WAITING   TO   BE    HIRED. 


PRISONERS   WITH   CANGUES. 


[  To  face  page  30. 


INSIDE  SHANGHAI  CITY  31 

also   through   the   city   gates,   which   are   by  no 
means  imposing,  and  pass  the  poor  men  sitting 
with  cangues  round  their  necks.     This  is  the  first 
time  I  have  seen  this  punishment,  but  there  seems 
to  be  plenty  of  it  in  the  Shanghai  Chinatown. 
Are  the  policemen  cleverer  to  catch  thieves  there 
than   at    Hankow  or    Peking  ?     Are  the  people 
wickeder,  or  are  the  temptations  greater  ?     Any- 
how,   there    are   the   poor   wretches   with    large 
cangues,   preventing   them  from  lying  down,   or 
even  leaning  back,  unable  to  take  them  off  day 
or  night,  or  even  feed  themselves,  and  looking 
wretchedly  sick  and   hungry,   as   they  hold   out 
suppliant  hands,  and  point  at  their  mouths  waiting 
to  be  fed.     But  the  vehement  Neapolitan  makes 
a  gesture  far  more  expressive  of  famine  abandon- 
ment than  these  Chinese  prisoners.     The  Chinese 
always  convey  the  impression  of  having  very  little 
to  express  from  their  poverty  of  modes  of  expres- 
sion.     No   flashing   eyes,   that   speak  for  them- 
selves, no  working  features,  articulate  without  a 
sound,  no  dramatic  gestures  easy  to  read  a  mile 
off,    and   finally   a   language    almost   inarticulate 
when  spoken.     Did  they  wish  much  to  say  any- 
thing  their   whole   physique   must   have   altered 
long  ago.     But  they  were  born,  one  would  say, 
to  be  hewers  of  wood  and  drawers  of  water,  and 
to  endure  many  things  patiently. 


32       IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

Shanghai  Chinatown  enjoys  the  reputation  of 
being  very  dirty  and  disgusting,  but  that  sunshiny 
afternoon  we  did  not  find  it  so,  though  we 
wondered  a  little  at  the  dirt  as  we  passed  down 
one  street  of  Chinese  houses  crowded  pictur- 
esquely on  to  a  narrow  creek,  the  tops  of  the 
houses,  wooden  sheds  apparently,  each  with  a 
shai-fai  on  the  roof,  or,  as  I  should  call  it,  an 
Italian  loggia.  But  here  the  little  roof  balcony  or 
summer  house  is  not  built  for  pleasure  to  enjoy 
the  sun  and  il  dolce  giuoco  degli  occhi,  as  the 
Italians  say,  but  to  hang  out  clothes  to  dry.  The 
tide  was  high,  so  there  was  little  smell,  but  the 
water  between  us  and  the  houses  looked  foul  and 
sluggish,  like  a  canal  rather  than  a  river,  and  a 
canal  badly  used,  with  everything  flung  into  it. 
It  is  all  these  poor  people  have  for  washing, 
cooking,  drinking.  And  yet  just  at  hand  there  is 
the  foreign  Concession  with  its  abundant  supply 
of  wholesome,  pure  water,  and  an  enterprising 
company  doubtless  thirsting  to  prolong  its  mains 
into  the  Chinatown  whenever  the  Taotai  will 
allow  of  it.  Meanwhile  the  poor  people  die  of 
cholera,  and  who  can  wonder,  looking  at  that 
water,  which  must  also  be  far  more  objectionable 
when  the  tide  is  out.  Across  the  creek  each 
house  had  its  own  independent,  narrow,  rail-less 
bridge  turned  edgeways,  with  nails  projecting 


INSIDE  SHANGHAI  CITY  33 

upwards  from  the  upturned  edge,  so  as  to  prevent 
even  a  cat  getting  across,  when  the  cottage  wants 
to  receive  no  visitors  ;  but  difficult  for  imaginative 
and  consequently  giddy  Europeans  to  walk  over, 
even  when  laid  flat  to  invite  intercourse. 

The  great  thing  to  visit  in  Shanghai  is  the 
tea  gardens  with  a  certain  far-off  resemblance  to 
the  picture  on  the  famous  willow-pattern  plate. 
Here  is  water,  with  quaint,  devious  bridges, 
starting  first  one  way,  then  another,  and  here  are 
pavilions  and  rockwork.  When  it  was  all  made, 
one  cannot  help  thinking  the  water  must  have 
been  cleaner,  and  that  there  must  then  have  been 
a  few  plants  among  the  rockwork  instead  of  as 
now  stagnant  pools  and  filth.  But  the  arrange- 
ment is  really  very  pretty.  As  usual  people 
say  vaguely  "  The  Rebels,"  when  one  wonders 
why,  like  everything  else  Chinese,  it  is  in  decad- 
ence and  uncared  for.  But  the  rebels  were  such 
a  long  time  ago  I  cannot  help  thinking,  if 
Shanghai  city  cared  to  furbish  up  its  tea  garden, 
it  could  have  done  so  in  nearly  half  a  century, 
and  I  begin  to  wonder  if  it  is  not  owing  to  the 
increasing  use  of  opium  rather  than  to  the  rebels, 
that  one  finds  things  so  untidy  and  neglected  as 
in  England  one  finds  them  only  in  a  drunken 
woman's  household.  After  all,  it  is  only  quite  of 
late  years  the  Chinese  have  smoked  opium  ex- 


34      IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

tensively.  And  the  first  generation  of  opium 
smokers  were  possibly  smokers  in  moderation. 
Anyway  their  constitutions  were  not  soaked  with 
it,  as  those  of  their  grandchildren  and  great- 
grandchildren must  be.  Dipsomania  is  a  modern 
development  in  England,  where  gin  drinking  is 
of  comparatively  recent  date,  as  also  tobacco 
smoking  as  other  than  a  luxury.  Science  has  not 
yet  even  attempted  to  work  out  how  far  national 
characters  and  constitutions  are  determined  by 
their  food  and  affected  by  a  change  of  diet.  And 
if  it  is  opium  that  has  made  the  Chinese  grow  so 
careless,  there  may  be  other  developments  going 
on  in  England,  which  we  do  not  notice,  because 
we  are  used  to  things  as  they  now  are.  But 
certainly  nothing  has  ever  made  me  feel  more 
anxious  about  the  future  of  England  than  the 
dilapidated  coquetries  of  that  Shanghai  tea 
garden ;  for,  bad  though  trade  was  then,  the 
Shanghai  Chinatown  must  be  far  wealthier  than 
it  was  when  that  garden  was  made. 

We  sat  down  in  one  of  the  pavilions,  and  had 
most  excellent  tea,  accompanied  by  sunflower 
seeds  and  pea  nuts,  both  sold  to  us  by  itinerant 
vendors,  evidently  the  ruined  victims  of  opium. 
Sunflower  seeds  are  like  shrimps,  very  pretty 
eating  when  you  arrive  at  it,  but  it  is  a  question 
whether  the  amount  of  the  delicacy  obtained  is  in 


INSIDE  SHANGHAI  CITY  35 

proportion  to  the  trouble.  An  opium  smoker 
came  and  offered  us  a  bird  for  sale.  His  bird 
had  learnt  a  very  pretty  trick  of  catching  seeds, 
as  he  threw  them  into  the  air.  It  sat,  as  is  usual 
with  Chinese  birds  in  captivity,  on  a  cunningly- 
crooked  stick,  and  had  a  silken  thread  around  its 
throat.  Outside  amongst  the  slanting  bridges 
and  water  there  was  a  regular  bird  market  going 
on.  A  man  threw  his  bird  into  the  air.  It 
fluttered,  and  flew  back.  Again  and  again  he 
threw  it ;  sometimes  it  would  perch  for  a  few 
moments  on  the  curved  gable  of  the  tea  garden 
pavilion,  but  always  only  to  fly  down  to  him 
again,  a  crowd  standing  by  to  watch.  There  was 
a  glorious,  golden  pheasant  for  sale  cooped  up  in 
a  wretched  little  cage.  But  otherwise  the  birds 
were  very  dull  in  colouring  after  those  at  Tientsin 
and  Peking. 

There  was  a  great  Fair  going  on  in  Peking 
whilst  we  were  there,  and  the  hooded  hawks 
tempted  me  more  than  anything.  We  saw  the 
greatest  beauty,  for  which  three  taels,  about 
twelve  shillings,  were  asked.  But  our  man  was 
against  our  buying  it,  saying  if  we  could  train  it 
and  take  it  out  it  would  be  all  right,  but  if  we 
shut  it  up,  or  kept  it  confined,  "  hawks  had  no 
conscience."  Trained  hawks  cost  forty  or  fifty 
taels.  This  one  was  young,  newly  caught. 


36      IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

There  were  numbers  of  dear  little  birds  with  red 
golden  throats.  I  hear  that  a  good  one  will  fetch 
five  hundred  dollars,  that  is,  a  well-trained  one. 
There  is  a  bird  the  Pekinese  teach  to  catch  little 
balls ;  it  is  said  to  be  able  to  go  after  three  at 
once  and  bring  them  back,  if  you  throw  them  up 
in  the  air.  I  saw  also  the  most  magnificent  black 
bird,  a  Mongolian  crow,  I  think  it  was,  very  big 
and  fat,  with  a  beautiful  glossy  blue-black 
plumage.  The  crow  is  called  the  grave  of  the 
Mongols,  though  whether  their  dead  bodies  are 
strapped  on  to  wild  horses,  which  are  then  let 
loose,  as  I  was  told,  I  really  do  not  know.  Any 
more  than  I  know  whether  it  is  true,  as  some 
member  of  the  French  Legation,  who  recently 
went  home  through  Siberia,  writes  word,  that 
the  tarantasses  there  are  drawn  by  numbers  of 
horses,  generally  ridden  by  women,  the  women 
wearing  the  harness,  not  the  horses.  It  may  be 
true,  but  if  so  it  seems  odd  not  to  have  heard  of 
it  before. 

But  to  return  to  Shanghai.  We  passed  by  a 
stall  with  artificial  teeth,  covered  with  announce- 
ments how  every  tooth  pain  could  be  at  once 
cured,  and  paused  for  some  time  by  an  itinerant 
vendor  of  quack  medicines.  He  had  wonderful 
things  upon  his  stall,  a  tiger's  heart,  a  tiger's 
teeth,  a  little  monstrosity  of  a  fat  baby,  made  in 


INSIDE  SHANGHAI  CITY  37 

three  parts,  head,  body,  limbs  united,  no  anatomy 
of  any  kind  indicated,  but  probably  used  by  his 
patients  to  point  out  where  their  babies  were 
affected.  He  was  closing  for  the  night,  so  we 
could  not  hear  his  patter.  Hard  by  there  were 
pretty  little  China  cups  as  usual  lying  in  the  dust 
for  sale,  the  fanciful  Chinese  pen  rests,  a  haw- 
thorn twig,  green,  with  four  white  flowers,  a  white 
and  green  bird  nestling  among  them,  and  offering 
on  its  back  several  nice  ledges  for  Indian  ink- 
brushes  to  rest  and  dry. 

Before  that  we  had  gone  into  the  silk  shops 
and  bought  skeins  of  every  lovely  hue  ;  examined 
Chinamen's  pockets — possibly  useful  for  travelling 
letter-cases — also  their  shagreen  spectacle  cases. 
We  had  seen  the  pretty  little  musical  instruments 
made  of  crocodile  skin,  highly  ornamental  to  hang 
upon  a  boudoir  wall,  if  not  very  harmonious,  with 
their  two  strings  between  which  the  bow  is  fixed. 
Chinese  tailors'  scissors,  one  handle  ending  in  an 
elongated  curve,  proved  quite  irresistible.  We 
had  to  invest  in  them,  thinking  how  many  weary 
finger  aches  might  be  saved  to  English  cutters- 
out  if  they  once  became  usual  in  England.  Nor 
was  it  easy  to  resist  gambling  for  sweets  in  the 
streets  and  bestowing  those  gained  upon  the  very 
smart  little  girls,  who  were  standing  round  look- 
ing and  longing,  combs  of  yellow  immortelles,  or 


38      IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

tiny  yellow  daisies  framing  the  backs  of  their 
well-plastered  heads,  and  giving  them  a  most 
elegant  appearance.  We  failed  to  get  tongue- 
scrapers,  though  they  were  duly  advertised  for 
sale  over  more  than  one  shop  we  passed  by,  and 
we  put  off  till  another  day  examining  the  con- 
venience of  Chinese  irons,  lately  brought  out  as 
a  patented  new  invention  in  America,  as  balanced 
rudders  have  been  with  us.  For  if  "  they  didn't 
know  everything  down  in  Judee,"  it  really  seems 
almost  impossible  to  hit  upon  any  convenience  of 
life,  which  they  did  not  know  in  the  good  old 
days  in  China,  where  they  long  ago  discovered 
how  to  make  divided  skirts,  such  as  Lady 
Harberton  has  so  far  failed  even  in  copying, 
and  where  they  know  how  to  make  great-coats 
with  sleeves  so  cut,  that  you  can  put  both  arms  in 
at  once  without  any  laborious  pushing  or  hauling, 
such  as  makes  an  Englishman  shrink  from  getting 
into,  or  being  in  from  getting  out  of,  his  outer 
garment.  When  I  left  England  the  last  new 
society,  its  prospectus  not  printed  yet,  was  that  of 
the  Ladies  or  Dames  of  the  Thimble,  to  supply 
women  menders,  and  find  them  mending  to  do. 
You  may  see  these  menders  in  Chinese  towns, 
tidy  women,  going  about  in  couples  with  their 
little  stools,  or  sitting  outside  cottage  doors 
mending  the  family  linen.  It  is  a  thing  of  old 


INSIDE  SHANGHAI  CITY  39 

custom  here.  Americans  often  say  if  the  English 
ever  do  beat  in  the  great  international  yacht  race, 
it  will  yet  be  America's  triumph,  for  it  must  be 
with  a  centreboard  boat,  and  America  invented 
centreboards.  Not  so,  America!  Honest  John 
Chinaman  had  been  sailing  about  in  centreboard 
boats  for  generations  before  ever  you  thought  of 

them. 

Exceedingly   tired    physically,    but    mentally 

refreshed,  we  came  back  to  electric  light,  and 
carriages,  callers,  and  Caledonians. 


CHAPTER  V 

INTO   THE   CHINESE   COUNTRY 

A  N  expedition  up  the  river  is  one  of  the 
pleasures  of  Shanghai  life.  People's  faces 
brighten  as  they  talk  of  ''going  to  the  hills." 
And  there  being  no  roads,  the  only  way  of  really 
getting  into  the  country  is  either  to  take  a  house- 
boat, and  wind  in  and  out  of  the  various  creeks, 
or  with  a  yacht  drop  down  to  Woosung,  or  sail 
up  the  Huang  Pu.  We  did  the  latter  one 
winter's  day,  and  the  expedition  left  me  rather 
meditative.  Just  as  in  the  north  I  decided  the 
graves  were  the  only  liveable-in  places,  being 
the  only  spots  sheltered  from  sun  and  wind  by 
trees,  so  here  I  found  the  graves  were  the  only 
things,  that  made  any  variety  in  the  landscape 
of  flat  alluvial  plain,  all  cultivated,  with  every 
here  and  there  a  grave  mound!  It  suggested 
irresistibly  that  the  lives  of  those  around  were 
all  flat,  full  of  labour,  varied  but  by  deaths,  and 
those  not  tragic,  nor  even  specially  interesting. 
We  sailed  on  and  on,  beating  against  the 

wind  as  A.  said  no  yacht  in  England  could,  only 

40 


INTO  THE  CHINESE  COUNTRY  41 

a  Shanghai  yacht  with  its  ingenious  adaptation 
of  the  Chinese  rig.  We  passed  Ming  Hong  with 
its  picturesque  Lekin  (Inland  Taxes)  and  Life 
Saving  Station,  its  pretty  pavilion-topped  gate- 
way, and  Bund,  all  facing  south  along  the  river 
side.  No  other  boats  ventured  against  the  strong 
north-west  blow,  and  the  river  felt  lonely  as  we 
neared  the  Pagoda  of  Ta  Kong.  It  seemed  a 
pity  not  to  land  and  look  at  something. 

So  we  landed!  Fields  without  hedges  and 
without  trees,  fields  of  rice  recently  cut  down,  and 
consequently  with  their  mud  all  dry !  The  walk- 
ing was  good  enough,  which  it  would  not  have 
been  at  any  other  time  of  year,  and  the  fields 
being  quite  dry  did  not  smell.  Every  now  and 
then  we  crossed  a  creek  by  a  bridge  of  a  single 
plank,  or,  worse  still,  of  two  quite  narrow  planks 
not  in  any  way  joined  together,  only  placed 
alongside,  so  that  one  could  if  one  liked  put 
one  foot  on  each,  and  walk  across,  each  plank 
vibrating  differently.  Every  now  and  then  we 
came  across  cosy  -  looking  homesteads  with 
curved  roofs  and  projecting  eaves,  looking  very 
picturesque  against  the  evening  sky,  and  actually 
with  a  few  trees  round  them,  also  great  comfort- 
promising  stacks  of  rice  straw.  But  we  knew 
only  too  well  that,  as  we  got  near  each,  the 
smells  must  make  us  wish  we  had  not.  Finally 


42       IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

a  village  somewhat  especially  odoriferous,  as  if 
its  whole  business  were  to  provide  fertilisers  for 
the  surrounding  country!  And  at  the  back  of 
it  with  no  particular  approach  of  any  kind  the 
Pagoda!  It  was  locked  up  and  ruinous.  When 
someone  put  a  ladder  on  to  the  roof,  and  climbed 
up,  and  unlocked  one  of  the  doors  from  the 
inside,  I  was  sorry,  for  it  seemed  a  duty  then 
to  go  up  and  look  at  the  view  of  the  plain  and 
the  hills,  and  yet  it  hardly  looked  safe.  Clearly 
it  would  not  do  to  lean  against  the  railings  round 
the  balconies  of  the  Pagoda.  They  were  crumb- 
ling away.  I  thought  then  it  would  be  curious 
to  know  when  that  Pagoda  was  built,  and  why 
it  had  never  been  repaired  if  it  were  worth 
while  to  build  it.  But  now  I  know  it  never  is 
considered  worth  while  to  repair  anything  in 
China.  A  public  benefactor  builds  a  bridge  and 
has  his  name  inscribed  on  a  stone  tablet  forming 
part  of  it.  But  you  cannot  have  your  name  im- 
mortalised for  simply  year  by  year  replacing  a 
damaged  brick  or  two.  We  climbed  three  of  the 
seven  storeys,  thereby  procuring  a  great  deal  of 
excitement  for  me.  For  with  boots  with  heels, 
and  petticoats,  one  shrinks  from  going  down  a 
ladder  backwards,  and  getting  off  it  on  to  another 
ladder  starting  in  a  directly  opposite  direction. 
Otherwise  there  was  not  much  gained  by  going 


INTO  THE  CHINESE  COUNTRY  43 

up.  We  certainly  saw  the  hills,  and  we  certainly 
saw  the  plain.  The  hills  looked  a  little  bigger 
than  the  grave  mounds,  and  one  satisfactorily 
ascertained  for  one's  self  that  otherwise  the  plain 
was  all  the  same,  as  far  as  one  could  see.  The 
people  of  the  village  all  congregated  below  the 
Pagoda,  and  stared  at  us  when  we  came  down. 
They  looked  very  poor  and  ignorant.  I  do  not 
know  what  we  looked  to  them.  But  I  certainly 
did  observe  that  with  the  exception  of  one  boy 
they  all  had  the  good  sense  not  to  ascend  their 
own  Pagoda. 

We  dropped  down  stream  in  the  moonlight, 
and  next  morning  early  landed  at  Ming  Hong. 
Again  flat  alluvial  plain  only  varied  by  grave 
mounds!  But  here  the  river  has  raised  the 
surrounding  country  sufficiently  for  cotton,  not 
rice,  to  be  grown,  and  great  is  the  difference  in 
the  appearance  of  the  people.  Far  the  best-look- 
ing Chinamen  I  had  yet  seen  thronged  the  streets 
of  Ming  Hong.  And  they  appeared  thriving  and 
prosperous.  There  is  a  temple  near  to  the  town, 
that  almost  looks  as  if  someone  sometimes  went 
and  prayed  in  it.  When  you  go  into  the  inner 
temple  there  is  a  grave  and  rather  beautiful  God- 
dess of  Mercy  over  the  high  altar,  looking  like  a 
Russian  Madonna.  The  roof  is  fine  inside  as 
well  as  out  with  great  big  beams  and  dragons. 


44      IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

But  the  entrance  temple,  or  Ting-ehr,  was  very 
comical.  For  there  sat  a  gilded  Buddha  appar- 
ently in  supreme  enjoyment  of  the  good  things  of 
this  life,  and  on  either  side  of  him  four  gigantic 
idols,  who  had  all  had  their  legs  either  broken 
away,  or  worn  away,  and  who  had  in  other  ways 
suffered  change  at  the  hands  of  time.  At  what 
should  have  been  their  feet  sat  a  poor  beggar 
begging  lamentably  with  legs  horribly  swollen, 
and  covered  with  sores  which  he  was  very  anxious 
to  exhibit.  But  it  seemed  pleasanter  for  all 
parties  to  give  something  than  to  look ! 

We  walked  along  a  path,  where,  marvellous 
for  China,  two  people  could  walk  abreast,  and 
crossing  a  variety  of  creeks  in  a  variety  of  ways 
came  upon  the  ruins  of  a  camp,  finally  arriving  at 
two  tall  chimneys,  a  landmark  in  the  scene.  Our 
puzzle  was  what  fuel  they  could  possibly  find  to 
burn  inside  those  tall  chimneys.  It  turned  out  to 
be  rice  husks.  A  man  sat  on  the  ground  and 
with  one  hand  worked  a  bellows,  thus  making 
forced  draught,  while  with  the  other  he  threw  on 
a  tiny  handful  of  rice  husks,  not  enough  to  choke 
the  bright  flame  roused  by  the  draught.  Another 
man  weighed  out  crushed  cotton  seeds  into  a  little 
basket,  emptied  them  into  a  vessel  on  the  fire  till 
it  just  boiled,  then  emptied  them  again  into 
another  vessel — if  you  can  call  it  such — a  frame  of 


\ 


X 


INTO  THE  CHINESE  COUNTRY  45 

split  bamboo  twisted,  kneaded  it  all  hot  as  it  was 
with  his  feet,  and  then  piled  it  up  ready  to  be 
pressed,  always  with  a  bit  of  basket  work  weight- 
ing down  the  top.  We  waited  to  see  the  cakes 
pressed.  They  were  like  cheeses,  each  with  their 
twisted  bamboo  rings  round  them.  When  as 
many  as  could  be  were  fitted  into  a  trough,  then 
by  putting  in  wedges  the  bulk  was  reduced  to 
rather  less  than  half  what  it  at  first  appeared, 
during  which  time  a  constant  stream  of  oil  was 
flowing  from  the  trough.  A  man  hammered  the 
wedges,  towards  the  end  using  a  stone  hammer  so 
heavy  I  could  only  just  lift  it.  It  was  rather  amus- 
ing to  see  the  politeness  of  these  men.  One  of  them 
wanted  to  smoke,  but  before  doing  so  he  offered 
his  pipe  both  to  my  husband  and  to  myself  quite 
with  the  air  of  expecting  his  offer  to  be  accepted, 
I  had  on  an  ulster,  and  they  all  admired  the 
material  of  it  very  much,  saying  each  in  turn  they 
were  quite  sure  it  was  pi  chi,  long  ells  !  There 
were  buffaloes  crushing  the  cotton  seeds,  walking 
round  and  round  with  basket-work  blinkers  over 
their  poor  eyes.  Curiously  enough  the  heavy 
millstones  they  wheeled  round,  all  of  hardest 
granite  as  they  were,  yet  were  decorated  with 
carvings.  One  had  the  key  pattern,  also  char- 
acters very  carefully  carved  to  the  effect  that  it 
was  the  Fairy  Carriage  and  the  Dragon's  Wheel. 


46      IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

It  seemed  strange  to  come  upon  this  touch  of 
sestheticism  in  this  very  homely  sort  of  factory, 
whose  whole  plant  must  have  cost  so  very  little, 
and  which  was  in  consequence,  though  so  well 
adapted  for  its  purpose,  yet  so  simple  that  it  might 
well  serve  as  an  illustration  of  an  elementary 
primer  in  mechanics.  Indeed  this  factory  at 
home  and  in  the  fresh  air  was  the  very  ideal 
Ruskin  writes  about,  that  the  Village  Industries 
Society  at  home  has  lately  been  formed  to  realise, 
if  yet  it  may  be  in  England.  It  has  been  realised 
broadcast  in  China,  and  yet  they  are  not  happy ! 

We  went  back  through  a  long,  crowded, 
flourishing  street.  At  one  open  doorway  there 
were  young  priests  sitting  inside  chanting.  They 
had  musical  instruments  and  gongs.  A  man 
behind  a  table  was  very  busy  stamping  envelopes 
such  as  Chinese  officials  use :  very  large  and 
covered  with  characters.  He  was  good  enough 
to  pause,  and  show  us  the  letters  these  envelopes 
were  to  contain,  very  long,  and  beautifully  written, 
and  most  neatly  and  cunningly  folded.  There 
was  someone  very  ill  in  the  house,  and  these 
letters  were  addressed  to  heaven,  describing  cir- 
cumstantially his  sad  case.  They  were  presently 
to  be  burnt  and  thus  delivered.  The  lanterns 
with  which  this  house  was  decorated,  were  blue  for 
semi-mourning.  Only  a  few  doors  further  off 


INTO  THE  CHINESE  COUNTRY  47 

curiously  enough  we  came  upon  a  wedding.  The 
doors  stood  wide  open,  and  we  saw  a  long  vista  of 
courtyards  and  Ting-ehrs  all  with  open  doors,  and 
at  the  end  what  I  fancied  were  a  number  of 
smartly-dressed  servants  standing.  But  they  may 
for  all  I  know  have  been  the  hosts.  There  was  a 
band  in  the  first  courtyard  with  the  quaint,  pretty- 
looking  instruments  of  crocodile  skin,  which  I  had 
before  so  much  admired  in  the  Shanghai  city. 
Every  one  seemed  so  obliging  I  asked  to  look 
inside  the  wedding  chair.  It  was  remarkably 
smart,  really  beautifully  embroidered  all  over  out- 
side. But  to  my  intense  disgust  the  cushion,  on 
which  the  bride  was  to  sit,  was  an  old  common, 
red  cushion  worn  at  the  corners,  and  actually 
dirty,  and  the  inside  of  the  chair  had  not  been 
cleaned  out. 

Unfortunately  all  our  following  of  street  boys 
came  after  me  into  the  courtyard  to  examine  the 
chair,  so  feeling  I  was  not  only  intruding,  but 
making  a  real  obstruction,  I  came  out  again.  As 
I  did  so,  some  women  wedding  guests  got  out  of 
a  sedan  chair  at  the  door  with  a  baby  marvellously 
attired.  They  were  good  enough  to  ask  me  to 
go  in  with  them,  and  even  seized  hold  of  my 
hands  to  lead  me  in.  But  I  felt  as  if  I  should 
lose  face,  as  the  Chinese  say,  if  I  went  in  among 
the  wedding  guests  with  my  rough  ulster, 


48      IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

and  without  a  single  Chinese  compliment    o  say 
to  anyone. 

Just  as  the  day  before  there  was  a  strong 
head  wind  when  we  were  going  up  the  river,  so 
this  day  when  we  were  coming  down  there  was 
next  to  none.  But  our  wonderful  yacht  made  her 
way  all  the  same,  bringing  us  down  just  in  time 
for  the  reopening  of  the  Shanghai  Theatre,  with 
every  place  taken,  so  that  actually  money  was 
being  refused  at  the  doors.  No  wonder  the 
Chinese  delight  in  theatres.  Their  flat  country 
cries  out  for  some  artificial  enlivening. 


CHAPTER  VI 

APRIL   NEAR    NINGPO 

r  I  ^WO  years  before,  travelling  through  the 
English  Lakes  in  the  month  of  June  and 
rejoicing  in  the  rhododendrons  and  azaleas,  so 
lovely  there,  I  had  read  Miss  Gordon  Cumming's 
account  of  the  azaleas  on  the  hills  behind 
Ningpo,  and  thought  I  must  some  day  come 
to  China  just  on  purpose  to  see  them.  But  I 
had  no  idea  then  that  I  should  ever  really  do 
so.  Now  one  night  on  board  the  good  boat 
Kiangteen  had  brought  us  from  Shanghai  to 
Ningpo,  reaching  that  place  in  pleasant  time  for 
breakfast.  And  next  day  saw  us  most  comfort- 
ably installed  in  a  friend's  houseboat  en  route  for 
Kongkou,  where  we  were  to  take  chairs  to 
proceed  to  the  Snowy  Hollow  of  Shih-to-sze. 
Ningpo  boats  are  excellent,  and  the  one  lent  us 
slipped  along  like  an  eel,  propelled  by  two  men 
with  yulos  at  the  stern.  Though  pleasant 
enough  there  was  little  to  notice  on  the  way. 
But  before  ever  packing  into  the  houseboat,  we 
had  been  to  see  the  various  sights  of  Ningpo  : 

49 


50      IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

the  shops  of  the  famous  wood-carving ;  the 
grand  old  Fokien  Guild  House  with  its  beautiful 
dragon-carved  stone  pillars,  and  air  of  departed 
grandeur;  then  in  the  foreign  quarter  the 
straight  race-course,  where  no  races  seem  ever 
run ;  the  church  with  its  excellent  memorial 
window  to  Bishop  Russel,  and  last,  but  certainly 
not  least,  the  new  Bund. 

Ningpo  shops  are  rich  in  fresh,  clean-looking 
matting,  and  in  delightfully  fresh-looking  con- 
trivances made  out  of  bamboo.  I  was  also 
greatly  pleased  to  find  Ningpo  sailors  walking 
about  in  nether  garments  stitched  with  the  very 
same  smocking  stitch  our  own  carter  lads  have 
for  centuries  found  so  serviceable.  It  must  be 
something  more  than  fancy,  that  makes  so  many 
of  us  like  to  wear  smocking  now,  since  Chinese 
"water-hands"  and  English  labourers  have  alike 
discovered  its  uses. 

Arrived  at  Kongkou,  some  twenty  or  thirty 
men  turned  out  at  once  and  waited  patiently  for 
an  hour  or  two  to  compete  for  the  job  of 
carrying  our  baggage.  It  was  rather  difficult  to 
get  through  them.  But  at  last  at  nine  we  were 
off,  and  between  four  and  five  reached  Shih- 
to-sze.  The  road  was  at  first  rather  monotonous, 
and  the  heat  all  the  way  very  oppressive.  But 
there  came  a  moment  of  intense  excitement, 


APRIL  NEAR  NINGPO  51 

when  we  first  caught  sight  of  azaleas,  pink 
beneath  the  fir  trees.  Then  there  was  a  hillside 
or  two  in  the  distance  all  ruddy  with  them.  At 
last  we  were  carried  over  such  a  hill,  and  sprang 
out  and  gathered  our  hands  full  of  pale  pink,  of 
rosy  red,  of  mauve  and  again  of  purple  reddish 
azaleas.  They  were  quite  as  lovely  as  in 
English  gardens.  The  bushes  were  covered 
with  flowers.  But  somehow  I  am  not  sure  that 
when  wild  they  give  quite  the  same  satisfaction 
as  do  the  fields  waving  yellow  with  rape  flower, 
and  scenting  all  the  air  with  their  sweetness. 
Whether  from  association  azaleas  look  too  fine 
for  wildness.  We  lunched  by  a  swift  stream,  on 
whose  banks  grew  what  looked  like  violet 
flowers,  but  with  leaves  most  unlike  violets. 
And  there  we  sat  and  watched  the  rafts  go  by ; 
five  or  seven  bamboo-tree  stems  loosely  tied 
together  so  that  the  water  could  come  up 
between  the  stems,  and  with  the  ends  somewhat 
curved  upwards  at  one  end  like  a  prow.  On  a 
platform  upon  the  stems  would  sometimes  sit  a 
party  of  women  with  their  graceful  style  of  hair 
dressing,  a  large  chignon  not  hanging  down  the 
back,  but  sticking  out  very  far  behind,  and 
giving  the  face  a  dreamy,  poetic  air,  altogether 
unusual  in  China.  Sometimes  all  sorts  of 
market  produce  would  be  piled  up  on  the  plat- 


52   IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

form.  The  rafts  always  shot  by  quickly,  and  I 
wondered  how  I  should  like  sitting  on  one  of 
them,  knowing  it  was  soon  to  be  our  mode  of 
conveyance. 

After  luncheon  the  scenery  grew  greatly  in 
interest,  recalling  Monte  Generoso  and  North 
Italian  scenes.  But  all  on  a  sudden  my  eyes 
rested  on  a  shabby  shrub  by  the  wayside.  I  was 
sure  I  knew  something  about  that  dull-looking 
shrub,  something  like  a  very  forlorn  camellia, 
recalling  from  a  little  distance  a  holly  bush  but 
without  the  prickles.  It  was  only  next  day, 
however,  I  was  able  to  assure  myself  I  was 
right.  We  passed  then  by  many  tea  gardens. 
We  were  told  some  were  for  tea  and  some  for 
oil  produced  from  the  tea  seeds.  All  looked 
alike  neglected. 

All  the  way  along  the  birds  were  singing,  the 
cuckoo  calling  continuously,  the  cock  pheasant  at 
intervals.  There  was  a  feeling  of  spring  in  the 
air.  Two  peasant  women  passed  in  lively  chat ; 
they  were  most  decorously  dressed  in  front  with 
their  jackets  drawn  down  over  long  aprons,  that 
looked  like  petticoats,  but  which  abruptly  termin- 
ated, leaving  only  trousers  visible  behind,  being  in 
reality  half  their  divided  skirts,  the  other  half 
having  been  taken  off  for  convenience  in  walking. 
They  chatted  with  us,  they  chatted  with  the  stray 


APRIL  NEAR  NINGPO  53 

men  they  met.  Azaleas  lay  along  the  road, 
dropped  from  the  careless  hands  of  previous 
passers.  Nearly  everyone  we  met  was  carrying  a 
handful  of  azaleas.  But  I  was  not  sorry  when  we 
reached  the  elevated  valley,  on  a  sort  of  platform 
on  which  stands  the  famous  monastery,  said  to 
have  been  founded  towards  the  end  of  the  ninth 
century  under  the  reign  of  Hi-tsung.  For  the 
final  hill  was  steep,  and  one  of  my  chair  bearers — 
a  mere  lad — could  not  carry.  So  I  had  to  walk, 
and  the  heavy  air  made  this  very  hot  work.  The 
guest-rooms  seemed  all  the  damper  in  consequence, 
and  I  was  glad  soon  to  leave  them  and  go  out  to  see 
the  beautiful  cascade  with  its  grand  rock  amphi- 
theatre, and  azalea  bushes  in  full  blossom,  like 
delicate  pink  and  mauve  fairies,  projecting  over 
the  precipice ;  all  perfumed  by  the  delicious  scent 
proceeding  from  an  evergreen  shrub  snowed  over 
by  what  looked  like  glorified  myrtle  blossom. 
But  on  the  way  my  attention  was  arrested  by  what 
was  indeed  a  novelty  to  me,  a  service  in  the 
temple. 

All  the  time  I  had  been  in  China  I  had  never 
caught  sight  of  the  tail  end  of  a  religious  service 
of  any  kind.  So  of  course  I  lingered  now.  Six 
priests  in  disgustingly  dirty  and  patched  loose 
greyish-white  gowns,  with  each  a  yellow  robe 
fastened  across  one  shoulder  by  a  ring  and  fibula, 


54      IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

knelt  upright  before  the  altar.  Then  they  rose 
and  prostrated  themselves  three  times,  one  of  them 
abasing  himself  till  his  head  rested  in  his  hands 
on  the  hassock  on  which  he  was  kneeling.  He 
seemed  to  be  the  leader,  was  perhaps  the  officiating 
priest.  They  struck  gongs  and  bells,  and  a  drum 
with  a  very  deep  sound,  and  processioned  round 
the  church  chanting.  Round  and  round  the 
temple  they  walked,  never  apparently  noticing  me 
at  all,  with  eyes  cast  down,  and  air  of  deep 
devotion.  I  seemed  at  intervals  to  hear  Dominus, 
Dominus,  Gloria,  Gloria.  Certainly  the  chant 
seemed  the  very  same  I  have  listened  to  so  often 
in  Roman  Catholic  churches  in  Europe.  There 
was  no  congregation,  and  the  demeanour  of  the 
Chinese  priests  was  more  reverent,  that  was  all 
the  difference  I  could  notice.  Thus  for  more  than 
a  thousand  years  they  had  been  worshipping  our 
Heavenly  Father  after  that  fashion  in  this  very 
spot.  Once  there  are  said  to  have  been  three 
thousand  priests  in  that  monastery.  Had  their 
service  been  accepted  ?  Surely  the  old  casuists 
were  right  when  they  decided  that  in  His  eyes, 
the  question  is,  "  Non  si  bonum,  sed  si  bene"  Not 
if  the  manner  of  worship  be  good,  but  if  it  be  well 
done,  that  is  true  heart  worship. 

Possibly    these    priests     are     now    ignorant, 
sunken  in  superstition,   not  religion.     There  are 


APRIL  NEAR  NINGPO  55 

many  such  in  Europe.  But  it  is  impossible  to 
contemplate  their  method  of  worship  and  doubt 
that  it  is  derived  from  one  common  stock  with 
that  of  the  Roman  Catholics,  of  whose  service 
ours  is  but  a  modified  translation.  Reformation 
may  be  needed,  always  must  be  as  long  as  man 
is  mortal,  but  Omito  Fo !  Which  of  us  is  there 
cannot  join  in  saying  that  ? 

An  old  man  looking  at  us  from  a  window 
was  telling  his  beads  all  the  while.  Each  gaily- 
dressed  woman  carried  a  rosary  conspicuously. 
At  last  we  seemed  to  have  reached  a  religious 
part  of  China. 

Ta  Lang  Shan  is,  like  the  jinricksha,  a  mis- 
sionary discovery.  It  is  a  plateau  in  an  elevated 
valley,  and  the  climate  in  the  month  of  April 
recalls  the  Yorkshire  moors  or  a  spring  day  in 
Cumberland.  In  the  morning  one  gets  up  to 
white  mist  over  everything,  and  in  the  evening 
heavy  mists  settle  down  like  a  pall,  covering  first 
the  distant  hill-tops,  then  shadowing  the  country 
below  them,  shining  from  under  the  veil  all 
flecked  with  sun  and  shadow,  finally  settling 
down  over  everything  visible.  It  is  so  high  up 
that  one  can  wander  over  the  adjacent  hills  for 
hours  without  ever  descending  any  distance  to 
speak  of.  These  hills  are  grown  over  with  firs, 
azaleas  only  budding  as  yet,  lovely  white  and 


56       IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

purple  violets,  tea  plantations,  and  in  the  hollows 
the  inevitable  paddy.  It  was  just  a  little  cheer- 
less there  when  the  winter  grass  had  not  yet  dis- 
appeared, or  the  bamboos  put  on  their  summer 
bravery.  But  some  three  weeks  later  it  must  be 
delightful  indeed,  and  one  envies  the  possessors 
of  the  various  foreign  houses,  who  can  spend 
their  summers  here. 

Only  six  weeks  before,  we  were  told,  there 
were  six  feet  of  snow  there,  and  the  tea  bushes 
still  showed  many  signs  of  having  been  touched 
up  by  the  frost.  We  saw  bushes  of  which  the 
owner  said  they  were  seventy  or  eighty  years 
old,  and  others  to  which  he  assigned  thirty  years. 
They  were  growing  into  veritable  hedges  in  some 
parts.  And  I  could  not  help  wondering  what 
Indian  cultivators  would  say  to  rows  of  tea 
bushes,  interspersed  among  rows  of  rape,  or,  as 
was  more  common,  among  rows  of  barley,  and 
with  the  ground  all  hard  and  undug  around  them. 
But  then  again  we  were  told  the  tea  would  be 
very  good  that  year  because  there  had  been  so 
much  snow.  And  Assam  tea  is,  I  believe,  un- 
assisted by  snow.  So  probably  there  is  a  good 
deal  of  difference  in  the  plants. 

There  was  not  a  priest  in  the  village,  nor  as 
it  would  seem  a  rosary ;  yet  a  young  man,  son  of 
a  village  notable,  of  his  own  accord  volunteered 


APRIL  NEAR  NINGPO  57 

that  the  people  were  much  too  good  to  be  con- 
verted, and  he  thought  it  very  wrong  of  a  certain 
missionary  to  try.  However  this  may  be,  one 
man  told  us  he  was  the  only  Christian  in  the 
place,  and  another  that  there  was  not  one,  and 
this,  though  missionaries  had  had  houses  there 
for  six  years,  and  frequented  the  place  for  nine, 
for  their  vacations,  be  it  remembered ! 

The  road  from  the  Snowy  Valley  to  Ta  Lang 
Shan  lies  through  a  singularly  beautiful  ravine, 
full  of  bamboo  groves  with  one  bit  like  Scott's 
Enchanted  Castle  in  the  Valley  of  St  John,  with 
fine  trees,  and  all  the  way  a  fresh  running  stream. 
In  this  valley  the  boys  wear  a  curious  kind  of  top- 
boots,  perhaps  they  should  be  called  long  stock- 
ings, for  they  put  on  straw  sandals  over  them. 
But  however  this  covering  may  be  called,  it 
reaches  to  the  knee,  where  it  is  turned  down  in 
a  deep  fold,  and  it  is  made  of  human  hair  plaited 
together,  and  so  coarse  and  rough  as  to  give  the 
boys  the  appearance  of  young  bears.  We  did 
not  make  out  if  it  is  made  of  their  lady-loves' 
hair  or  their  own.  Throughout  Chekiang  the 
men  wear  a  delightfully  convenient  basket-pocket 
tied  round  their  waists  by  a  straw  girdle  and 
hanging  down  behind.  In  this  they  commonly 
carry  a  knife,  or  pipe.  But  it  would  be  the  very 
thing  for  picnics,  or  wild  flowers,  so  I  was 


58      IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

delighted  to  have  one  presented  to  me  by  the 
head  of  a  tea-hong,  who  took  us  to  see  his 
house.  It  had  carved  doors,  and  all  one  end 
of  the  guest-room  was  carved  by  Fung  Hwa 
men,  five  of  whom  he  had  in  his  employ.  All 
the  best  Ningpo  carving  is  done  by  men  from 
this  town.  The  beams  projecting  beyond  the 
walls  to  support  the  roof  outside  were  so  quaintly 
and  interestingly  carved,  I  could  not  help  once 
again  regretting  that  no  one  in  Shanghai  has 
tried  to  build  a  house,  that  would  be  a  chef- 
d'oeuvre  of  Chinese  art,  instead  of  an  imitation 
of  something  at  home.  A  verandah  with  such 
carved  beams  would  be  a  thing  of  joy,  far  better 
than  a  dozen  so-called  curios  patched  about  a 
European  room.  Chinese  dirt  seems  to  have 
blinded  people  to  the  ever-varying  beauty  of 
Chinese  designs,  which  may  be  very  simple,  but 
are  hardly  ever  otherwise  than  graceful,  often 
very  much  so,  and  always  appropriate  to  the  part 
they  serve  to  decorate.  The  most  delightful 
thing  in  this  house,  however,  was  the  swallows' 
nests  in  the  rafters  forming  the  ceiling  of  the 
guest-room,  and  the  birds  themselves  swiftly 
darting  in  and  out  all  the  time  of  our  visit,  not 
the  least  alarmed  at  the  people  round  about. 
The  Chinese  are  very  fond  of  having  birds'  nests 
in  their  houses,  and  thus  giving  the  winged  crea- 


APRIL  NEAR  NINGPO  59 

tures  free  shelter  seems  far  preferable  to  having 
them  in  cages. 

The  difficulty  of  obtaining  houses  away  from 
the  Treaty  Ports  had  been  satisfactorily  solved 
here,  the  foreigner  advancing  to  the  landowner 
money  to  build  a  house,  and  then  renting  it  of 
him,  the  principal  being  thus  gradually  paid  off 
out  of  the  rent.  Meanwhile  the  house  had  to  be 
kept  in  repair  by  the  owner.  There  were  four 
foreign  houses  then,  situated  some  distance  apart, 
and  all  commanding  extensive  views,  three  be- 
longing to  Ningpo  missionaries,  and  one  to  the 
Commissioner  of  Customs.  The  air  seemed  far 
fresher  and  healthier  than  that  of  the  Snowy 
Valley,  but  the  latter  has  far  more  ''sights"  to 
tempt  the  traveller,  being  surrounded  by  cliffs 
and  waterfalls,  and  rich  also  in  flowers  and  sing- 
ing birds.  One  of  the  features  in  the  accommo- 
dation provided  by  the  priests  at  Shih-to-sze  is 
the  book  where,  unlike  most  travellers'  books, 
each  traveller  seems  to  have  tried  to  write  some- 
thing worth  the  reading.  There  is  a  little 
account  of  the  history  of  the  place.  Sir  Walter 
Medhurst  has  written  careful  advice  as  to  what 
walks  to  take,  and  in  what  order,  though  this 
seems  to  matter  less,  where  all  the  surroundings 
are  lovely.  Someone  has  given  a  list  of  the  birds. 
No  one  so  far  of  the  flowers.  Mr  Ernest  Major 


60      IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

has  selected  a  legend  of  a  great  exterminator  of 
mankind,  who  tried  to  slay  one  of  the  priests,  but 
the  priest  lifted  his  finger  and  the  sword  would 
not  cut,  so  the  exterminator  repented  of  his  mis- 
deeds and  endowed  the  monastery.  Dr  Fryer 
has  added  his  quotum,  especially  noting  that  the 
two  trees  at  the  entrance  are  splendid  specimens 
of  Salisburia  Adiantifolia.  But  perhaps  the 
wittiest  entry  is  among  the  last  :— 

"  Of  advice  above  given  in  brief  here's  the  gist : 
If  in  climbing  the  Perilous  Path  you  persist, 
We  recommend  Rubbers  (though  not  playing  whist) ; 
For  though  fog  there  be  none,  yet  the  way  may  be  mist, 
And  no  doubt — though  this  need  not  be  news  that  appals — 
In  Shih-to-sze  most  commonly  trips  lead  to/a//j, 
While  as  to  the  steps,  which  you  see  everywhere, 
Down  the  vales,  up  the  cliffs — why  they  just  make  one  stair" 

E.  &  R.  S.  YORKE. 

I  have  been  transported  in  many  curious 
fashions,  but  I  certainly  never  expected  to  be 
carried  all  day  in  a  clothes  basket,  dangling  from 
a  bamboo  pole,  as  I  was  from  Snowy  Valley  here. 
It  seems  to  be  the  sedan  chair  of  these  hilly 
regions.  Our  journey  took  longer  than  it  should 
have,  I  think  ten  hours  with  only  half  an  hour's 
rest  for  luncheon.  The  bearers  seemed  greatly  to 
enjoy  themselves. 

The  great  charm  of  Ta  Lang  Shan  is  the  un- 
expected beauty  of  the  walks.  One  wanders 


APRIL  NEAR  NINGPO  61 

along  among  fir  trees  and  azaleas,  and  all  on  a 
sudden  finds  oneself  on  an  elevated  plateau  stand- 
ing out  right  in  the  midst  of  a  valley,  and  com- 
manding a  prospect  of  surpassing  loveliness.  Yet 
amongst  all  the  others  I  fancy  the  walk  to  Sze 
Ling  carries  away  the  palm,  and  by  those  at  all 
pressed  for  time  this  may  be  taken  on  the  way 
from  Snowy  Valley  to  Ta  Lang  Shan.  The 
rocks  and  little  precipices  add  greatly  to  the  beauty 
of  the  scene,  but  its  charm  cannot  be  put  into 
words.  Only  the  artist  could  attempt  to  deal 
with  that.  At  the  same  time  it  is  worth  noting 
that  the  variety  of  foliage  would  make  the  steep 
descent  down  to  Sze  Ling  a  triumph  of  landscape 
gardening,  had  it  all  been  planted  by  the  most 
skilful  gardeners  instead  of  growing  wild.  Azaleas 
of  varied  tints  and  in  full  flower  overhang  the 
precipices  ;  firs  crown  them.  Beneath  are  groves  of 
golden  bamboos,  Chinese  palms,  Cunninghamias, 
fresh  green  larches,  flowering  holly,  Osmundia 
Regalis,  with  a  whole  following  of  ferns,  all  putting 
out  fresh  fronds ;  running  water,  and  opposite, 
ranged  along  the  hillside  in  a  commanding  situa- 
tion, the  well-built  picturesque  farmsteads  of  Sze 
Ling.  At  Chin-ngan  there  is  the  same  sort  of 
headland  standing  out,  commanding  there  an  all- 
round  view,  but  not  with  quite  the  same  charm  of 
character  as  at  Sze  Ling. 


62      IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

Another  of  the  delights  of  the  neighbourhood 
of  Ta  Lang  Shan  is  the  extreme  friendliness  and 
hospitality  of  the  people.  Heated  with  walking 
it  is  very  pleasant  to  be  welcomed  with  hot  tea 
— really  sometimes  of  delicious  flavour — in  the 
cool,  dark  guest-room  of  a  farmhouse.  We  had 
eggs  brought  to  us  also,  with  salt ;  no  bread  of 
course  ;  wine  and  pipes  were  offered,  also  a  ewer 
of  hot  water  with  a  cloth  steeped  in  it,  with  which 
one  is  meant  to  cool  one's  face  and  neck.  No 
fashion  could  be  more  sensible  and  acceptable. 
But  it  requires  some  resolution  to  make  use  of  the 
cloth,  that  has  probably  already  served  so  many 
a  Chinaman,  although  steeped  in  hot  water. 

The  women  wear  a  variety  of  pretty  pins  in 
their  hair,  sometimes  sticking  out  so  far  that  I 
wondered  if  no  young  miss,  toddling  about  on  her 
poor  deformed  feet,  had  put  out  some  younger 
brother's  eye  with  her  projecting  pins. 

As  the  weather  grew  hotter  we  had  the  pleasure 
of  witnessing  two  thunderstorms  at  Ta  Lang 
Shan.  But  all  was  cool  with  rapidly  moving 
white  mist,  when  we  wended  our  way  downward 
through  the  valley  of  Wu  Ling  Day,  always  in- 
creasing in  beauty  till  one  reaches  Ta  Jow,  so 
that  I  think  it  the  loveliest  valley  I  have  ever 
travelled  through,  although,  on  saying  so,  visions 
rise  up  before  me,  rather  reproachfully,  of  a  Val 


APRIL  NEAR  NINGPO  63 

Paraiso  in  far-off  Madeira,  with  chestnut  trees 
ever  waving  their  many  branches,  and  pale  pink 
belladonna  lilies  bowing  their  heads  distressed. 
But  for  one  thing  Wu  Ling  Day  is  much  longer 
and  more  varied.  People  who  have  been  in  Japan 
say  it  is  like  Japan,  only  finer.  It  is  very  fine, 
though  not  in  the  least  grand.  Its  feature,  or  one 
of  its  features,  is  its  magnificent  tallow  trees. 
Laurel-like  Photinias,  one  arch  of  white  flower, 
also  added  much  to  its  beauty  as  we  passed  through. 
It  has  a  romantic  character  that  made  one  wish 
all  Shanghai  could  be  transported  bodily  for  one 
gladsome  saunter,  to  go  back  refreshed.  At  Ta 
Jow  the  stream  we  had  so  long  followed  became 
navigable,  and  we  took  boats,  and  shot  rapids 
through  a  still  more  beautiful  scene.  Everywhere  by 
the  side  elegant  footpaths  with  well-kept  flights  of 
steps,  and  many  peasants  walking  along  them,  and 
everywhere  rest  houses,  with  grand  ancestral  halls. 
Having  read  a  most  exciting  account  of  the 
rapids  near  Wenchow,  I  hoped  my  heart  would 
jump  into  my  mouth,  or  that  I  should  at  least 
experience  some  sensation  over  these  Ningpo 
rapids.  But  I  must  confess  they  suggested  none 
but  of  pleasure  and  of  admiration  of  the  form  of 
the  boats,  and  the  skilful  way  our  very  young  bow 
boy  steered.  We  always  went  full  speed  down 
the  rapids  and  the  motion  was  most  exhilarating. 


64       IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

At  Ning-kong-jow  we  found  our  kind  friends' 
houseboat  waiting  for  us,  and  proceeded  to  Ningpo 
by  the  River  Yung.  For  the  first  half  hour  the 
scene  was  lovelier  than  any  yet  passed  through, 
recalling  the  Wye,  but  more  beautiful  from  the 
bright  colours  of  the  azaleas  enhancing  its  peaceful 
stillness.  Gradually  the  scenery  became  unin- 
teresting. But  first  we  saw  some  hundreds  of  big 
paddy  birds  sitting  together  on  one  or  two  trees, 
every  available  perch  occupied  by  these  daw-like 
birds,  with  their  long  bills  and  puffed-out  chests. 
Kingfishers  flew  before  us — cuckoos  called.  Also 
a  bird  with  a  strange,  sad  "  o-h !  o-h  !  "  reckoned 
a  bird  of  ill  omen  by  the  Chinese.  We  reached 
Ningpo  before  breakfast  the  next  morning,  had  a 
grand  day  buying  embroideries  and  sweets,  and 
after  a  dinner  party  stepped  into  the  comfortable 
houseboat  again  and  once  more  on  waking  found 
ourselves  far  away  in  the  country  among  lovely 
scenery,  bound  for  the  celebrated  monastery  of 
Tien  Dong. 

In  this  particularly  friendly  province  of 
Chekiang,  the  speciality  seems  to  be  rest  houses 
and  ancestral  halls.  There  is,  however,  another 
speciality :  a  slight  attempt  there  is  made  at 
decency.  It  was  the  first  part  of  China  where  I 
had  found  any.  And  the  result  was  so  comical 
that  the  most  prudish  traveller  could  not  fail  to  be 


<'*.*' 


APRIL  NEAR  NINGPO  65 

at  least  inwardly  amused  by  it.  I  must  plead 
guilty  to  having  several  times  laughed  outright. 
A  sedan  chair  for  the  sum  of  one  dollar  will  take 
you  from  the  boat  to  the  monastery,  between  five 
and  six  miles  off,  along  a  picturesque  but  very 
hard  road,  and  back  again.  Once  there  you  may 
stay  in  one  of  the  spacious  guest-rooms,  entertained 
by  the  priests  for  a  very  small  sum  per  diem,  and 
wander  about  in  the  bamboo  groves,  or  study  the 
true  inwardness  of  Buddhism,  now  so  fashionable 
a  religion  for  blast  Londoners.  In  May  the  azaleas 
again  there  colour  the  hillsides  in  banks  of  yellow, 
pink  and  mauve.  When  we  were  there  in  April 
this  was  hardly  the  case  yet,  but  the  yellow 
azaleas  were  coming  on.  The  yellow  irises  had 
not  yet  come  out.  Another  iris,  however,  like  the 
fleur  de  lys,  carpeted  the  ground  just  outside  the 
temple,  while  wistaria  tossed  its  beautiful,  scented 
blossoms  over  the  walls  on  to  the  fir  trees,  and 
generally  everywhere,  making  the  air  sweet  with 
its  perfume. 

There  is  a  long,  long  avenue  of  fir  trees,  with 
several  Tingehrs,  or  entrance  pavilions,  and  two 
lake-like  ponds  on  the  way  up,  these  last  specially 
beautiful,  reflecting  as  they  do  magnificent  old 
trees  growing  all  round.  Some  of  these  trees 
have  little  shrines  erected  round  them  as  if  to 
Dryads.  We  met  hundreds  and  hundreds  of 


66      IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

people  coming  back  as  we  went  out.  They  were 
mostly  women,  and  in  their  best  attire.  But,  as  a 
rule,  from  each  family  went  one  man  to  take  care 
of  his  female  relations,  looking  very  much  as  if  he 
were  taking  out  a  whole  seraglio.  But  probably 
they  were  his  "  sisters  and  his  cousins  and  his 
aunts."  The  clothes-basket-like  sedan  in  which 
most  of  the  country  people  are  carried  has  a  very 
comical  effect  until  you  are  used  to  it. 

It  was  too  early  in  the  season  for  the  great 
tubs  of  herb  tea — a  most  refreshing  tonic — to  be 
put  out  in  the  rest  houses.  These  are  daily  filled 
in  summer  by  the  charity  of  rich  philanthropists, 
by  whom  also  are  placed  at  intervals  the  huge 
blocks  of  stone  standing  on  end,  on  which  the 
weary  wayfarer  can  rest  his  load,  Chinese  phil- 
anthropy always  seeming  especially  practical. 
Many  a  man,  whose  shoulders  were  breaking 
down  under  his  burden,  would  be  unable  even  to 
relieve  himself  of  it  for  a  minute,  were  it  not  for 
these  stones,  for  many  of  the  men  carry  burdens 
much  too  heavy  to  lift  back  on  to  their  shoulders 
unaided,  if  once  set  down  on  the  ground. 

I  sometimes  wish  English  charity  would  take 
a  similarly  practical  form.  Why  should  not  the 
teetotal  societies  provide  free  tea,  or  milk,  or  at 
least  water  at  all  railway  stations  in  August  ? 
Why  should  not  shelters,  with  the  means  for 


APRIL  NEAR  NINGPO  67 

making  a  fire,  be  erected  on  the  Yorkshire  moors, 
and  throughout  the  lake  district  ?  And  whilst 
asking  questions,  not  to  be  answered,  why  should 
not  a  missionary,  before  much  money  be  ex- 
pended on  his  journey  into  the  far  interior,  be 
required  to  prove  his  capabilities  by  converting 
at  least  one  Buddhist  priest  ?  There  are  two 
hundred  of  them  at  Tien  Dong.  They  do  not 
look  very  spiritual  minded,  but  they  are  friendly, 
merry  fellows,  in  ash-coloured  cotton  gowns,  with 
a  cloak  or  cape  made  of  little  oblong  bits  of  red 
silk  carefully  sewn  together  with  the  white  edges 
showing,  and  fastened  over  one  shoulder ;  these 
little  bits  thus  laboriously  put  together  symbolising 
the  rags  of  poverty.  There  is  a  temple  to  the 
Lord  of  Heaven,  of  whom  there  is  a  most  un- 
spiritual-looking  figure  over  the  altar,  with  a  large 
stomach  and  every  sign  of  gratified  appetites  in 
his  fat,  hanging  cheeks  and  half-closed,  laughing 
eyes.  There  is  also  a  temple  beyond  to  Buddha, 
of  a  far  nobler  type,  whether  imaged  as  bonito,  or 
as  rejoicing,  or  as  himself.  There  are  three 
figures  of  him  in  the  temple  over  his  altar,  and 
behind  it  a  figure  of  his  mother — Sa-kya  Mouni's 
mother,  as  they  call  her,  though  not  giving  her 
son  any  other  name  than  that  of  his  exaltation. 
There  were  worshippers  going  round,  kneeling, 
and  bowing  their  foreheads  to  the  ground,  or 


68      IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

waving  joss-sticks  before  each  statued  disciple  in 
turn.  The  priests  were  chanting  very  monoton- 
ously a  service  specially  ordered  by  a  Mandarin 
as  a  thanksgiving  for  his  recent  promotion  in 
office. 

Each  chair  bearer  from  Ta  Lang  Shan  to  Ta 
Jow  received  five  hundred  cash,  each  baggage 
carrier  three  hundred  cash.  (There  are  one 
thousand  cash  in  a  dollar,  and  a  dollar  then 
equalled  two  shillings.)  Each  boat  from  Ta  Jow 
to  Ning-kong-jow  cost  six  hundred  cash.  It 
will  thus  be  seen  how  very  little  is  the  expense  of 
the  whole  trip,  even  with  the  fifteen  dollars'  return 
ticket  from  Shanghai  to  Ningpo  added  to  it. 
Ten  days  would  be  quite  sufficient  time.  Some 
of  those,  who  are  thinking  of  Japan,  might  do 
well  to  turn  their  attention  to  the  flowery  hill  tops 
and  yet  more  beautiful  valleys  around  Ningpo. 
Whilst  those,  who  are  interested  in  Chinese  ritual, 
could  not  make  acquaintance  with  it  to  better 
advantage  than  in  the  stately  courts  and  solemn 
precincts  of  the  Tien  Dong  Monastery. 


CHAPTER  VII 

SEPTEMBER    IN    WUHU 

A7[  7UHU,  about  half  way  between  Chinkiang 
*  and  Kiukiang,  appears  at  first  sight  one 

of  the  pleasantest  ports  on  the  Yangtze.  It  is 
not  crowded  in  amongst  Chinese  houses,  but 
lies  amongst  hills,  and  is  exceptionally  rich  in 
pagodas ;  that  in  the  Chinatown,  just  where 
a  wide  creek  crowded  with  masts  diverges  from 
the  main  river,  being  one  of  the  grandest  and 
most  ancient  looking  I  have  seen.  The  European 
community  is  small ;  the  Consul's  house  stands 
upon  a  hill  with  a  fine  view,  the  Commissioner's 
house  on  a  still  higher  hill  with  a  finer  view  ;  the 
missionaries  have  withdrawn  themselves  to  a 
distance  of  several  miles,  where  their  handsome 
houses,  situated  on  a  well-wooded  hill  overlooking 
the  river,  and  surrounded  by  uninhabited  country, 
elicit  many  expressions  of  envy  from  merchant- 
captains  and  engineers,  who,  judging  by  its 
exterior  near  Wuhu,  are  fain  to  pronounce  a 
Chinese  missionary's  life  a  very  easy  one.  But 

nestled  in  beneath  their  villas  is  a  school,  and  the 

69 


70      IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

education  of  the  young  is  probably  the  most 
satisfactory  form  of  missionary  work,  while  the 
big  building  cresting  the  hill  is  really  a  hospital. 
The  Jesuits  have  built  what  looks  like  a  positively 
colossal  building  alongside  its  Chinese  neighbours, 
but  it  is  intended  to  serve  as  a  house  of  rest  for 
those  of  their  order  all  through  the  two  provinces. 
Thus  each  big  building  may  be  explained,  yet 
they  look  rather  like  fortresses  beleaguering  the 
one-storied  Chinese  town. 

In  the  lotus-flowering  season  Wuhu  must  be 
a  thing  of  beauty,  for  all  around  there  are  large 
lake-like  ponds  with  firm,  blue-green,  platter-like 
leaves  rising  out  of  them,  not  lying  on  the  surface 
like  our  own  water-lilies.  And  it  is  between 
lotus-covered  ponds  and  avenues  of  tall,  stately 
sunflowers  that  the  little  European  community 
goes  to  and  fro  to  its  lawn-tennis  ground  upon 
the  plains.  Those  accustomed  to  China  can  fill 
up  the  interstices  with  dirt  and  smells,  which 
make,  what  might  be  so  charmingly  romantic, 
distressingly  Zolaesque. 

Wuhu  Chinatown  did  not  appear  particularly 
interesting,  but  lovely  silk  stuffs  are  to  be  had 
there,  and  huge  skeins  of  filoselle  silk  in  various 
exquisite  hues,  or  dyed  to  order  at  fabulously  low 
prices.  And  in  the  country  round  there  are  many 
objects  of  interest.  One  day  we  went  to  the  Chin 


SEPTEMBER  IN  WUKU  71 

Shan,  or  Golden  Mountain.  In  one  place  the 
creek  along  which  we  sailed  was  full  of  little 
cormorant  boats.  These  uncouth-looking  birds 
drive  the  fish  along,  much  as  we  drive  pheasants 
at  home,  before  they  catch  them,  and  finally 
deliver  them  up  to  their  keepers.  We  lunched 
in  a  little  harbour  with  various  flowering  plants 
near  us,  then  landed  and  walked  along  through 
sweet  wild  rosemary  and  wistaria,  with  which 
Wuhu  also  must  be  lovely  in  its  season,  to  some 
small  hills  near  the  Golden  Mountain.  A  pheasant 
whirred  from  almost  under  my  feet,  and  one  of 
the  party  got  enough  snipe  for  the  six  of  us  for 
dinner.  The  country  to  our  left  looked  like 
Westmorland  with  a  lovely  farmstead  in  the 
middle  distance  with  smoke  rising  from  it.  Before 
us  rose  a  further  hill,  from  which  evidently  an 
all-round  view  could  be  obtained ;  beneath  us  in 
the  hollow  to  our  right  nestled  a  temple.  "  Hills 
from  the  bottom  !  Temples  from  the  outside !  " 
murmured  one  of  the  party.  We  were  undecided. 
It  is  wonderful  what  a  short  time  in  China  inclines 
one  to  this  underneath  and  outside  view.  But  an 
adventurous  spirit,  who  had  already  ascended  the 
hill,  was  now  to  be  seen  making  his  way  to  the 
temple.  So  we  tried  for  a  short  cut  to  it,  and 
found  one  rather  rocky  and  somewhat  precipitous, 
and  there  in  the  rockiest  and  steepest  part  clusters 


72      IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

of  delicate,  yellow  lilies  growing.  Lilies  of  the 
daffodil  yellow,  but  quite  large  and  growing  like 
belladonnas,  six  or  more  flowers  on  a  head,  and 
with  a  faint,  delicious  perfume.  We  gathered  our 
hands  full,  dug  up  some  roots,  admired  the  fine 
sand-like  mould  in  which  the  lilies  were  growing, 
then  descended  on  the  temple. 

A  very  sensual,  jolly  sort  of  Falstaff  figure  sat 
as  an  image  of  some  god  at  the  entrance,  hand- 
somely gilded  and  done  up.  Behind  on  the  altar 
the  usual  three  Buddhas  of  the  Past,  Present  and 
Future,  and  around  the  twelve  disciples.  There 
seemed  nothing  of  special  interest.  But  behind 
this  temple  we  entered  an  inner  shrine,  the  most 
remarkable  I  have  yet  seen  in  China.  For  there, 
out  of  the  face  of  the  living  rock,  to  a  height  of 
some  forty  feet  or  more,  were  carved  images 
innumerable,  some  standing  out  as  statues,  life 
size — man's  life  size  that  is  to  say — some  only  in 
alto  relievo.  On  each  side  there  were  quaint 
figures,  the  one  of  a  mythological  sort  of  horse, 
the  other  of  a  bull,  as  far  as  I  remember. 
And  some  way  up  among  the  figures  on  the  face 
of  the  rock  was  a  dove  standing  out  by  itself  in 
complete  relief.  "You  see  that  dove?  "asked  a 
Chinaman.  "  There  were  two,  but  the  other  flew 
away."  There  was  a  rough  roof  covering  in  the 
whole  and  protecting  the  brilliant  colours  and 


SEPTEMBER  IN  WUKU  73 

gilding  of  the  images.  In  Europe  one  would 
hear  long  descriptions  of  such  a  shrine,  when  the 
images  were  carved,  by  whom,  with  what  intent. 
In  China  one  hears — nothing!  We  all — new- 
comers and  old  residents  alike — came  upon  it  by 
chance,  as  it  were.  Two  young  priests  with  a 
very  lowly  dwelling,  one  half  of  whose  courtyard 
was  given  up  to  the  keeping  of  gilded  images, 
and  of  a  miniature  shrine  of  like  nature  as  the 
other,  were  alone  in  charge.  They  looked  very 
poor,  and  had  very  simple,  guileless  faces. 

As  we  left  the  temple  the  setting  sun  was 
beginning  to  dye  the  distant  Yangtze,  and  an 
intervening  lake-like  expanse,  all  manner  of 
beautiful  tints  of  saffron  and  red.  Looking  back 
at  the  temple  we  saw  a  large  owl  fly  slowly  across 
it,  and  settle  on  a  spur  of  hill  running  down,  all 
rocks,  into  the  alluvial  plain.  The  contrast  of 
rocks  and  mud  was  heightened  by  all  the  grass 
having  been  burnt  black  round  the  foot  of  the 
rocks.  Turning  away  again  I  could  not  but  be 
reminded  of  one  of  Mason's  evening  scenes  ;  the 
figures  of  our  party  standing  out  against  the 
brilliant  sunset,  the  huge  bunch  of  yellow  lilies 
harmonising  with  the  yellow  sunset  tints,  as  if  a 
bit  brought  down  from  heaven  to  earth.  Bui 
gradually  the  mud  began  to  smell,  whilst 
mosquitoes  and  gnats  called  forth  many  an 

F 


74      IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

exclamation.  As  we  pushed  off  in  our  boat  a 
group  of  some  twenty  natives  standing  on  the 
bank  watching  stood  out  as  black  silhouettes 
against  the  last  bright  redness,  and  the  creek 
with  its  bamboo  grove  to  the  left,  and  water  no 
longer  visibly  muddy  in  the  twilight,  looked  very 
quiet  and  dreamlike.  It  had  been  a  fiercely  hot 
day,  and  it  was  very  pleasant  to  sit  on  the  top  of 
the  houseboat,  and  be  quietly  pushed  along  in  the 
moonlight. 

Another  excursion  we  made  was  to  the  San 
Shan  or  Three  Hills.  These  were  higher  than 
the  others.  Again  a  temple  at  the  foot,  but  a 
temple  of  no  special  interest,  only  with  a  very 
charming  shady  grove  leading  up  to  it,  in  which 
the  wistaria  must  be  glorious  in  the  spring  time. 
We  climbed  to  the  top  of  one  of  the  three  hills, 
but  the  view  round  was  more  interesting  than 
beautiful.  At  the  top  of  the  hill  was  a  pit  said 
to  be  bottomless — but  we  thought  we  saw  the 
bottom — and  to  communicate  by  subterranean 
passages  with  more  than  one  place  in  the  country 
round.  There  were  many  beautiful  ferns 
growing  in  it.  And  again  the  question,  what 
caused  it  ?  The  sides  were  straight  down  almost 
like  a  well  that  had  been  sunk.  The  country 
people  tell  many  wonderful  tales  about  it ;  how  a 
creature  like  a  bird  flew  out  of  the  hill  one  day, 


SEPTEMBER  IN  WUKU  75 

and  left  that  hole  where  it  came  out;  how  a 
dragon  with  an  egg  in  its  mouth  descended  into 
the  earth  there,  and  the  egg  formed  the  pit, 
etcetera.  Coming  back,  through  a  rather  large 
village,  we  found  it  en  fete,  matting  covering  in 
the  principal,  very  winding  street,  and  all  the 
street  hung  with  lanterns  so  close  together  as  to 
be  almost  touching.  The  lanterns  were  mostly 
red,  but  there  were  occasionally  others  more 
elaborate ;  the  effect  was  exceedingly  pretty 
even  by  day,  and  would  be  still  prettier  by  night. 
Every  now  and  then  in  the  middle  of  the  narrow 
street  were  stood  altars  with  candles  and  artificial 
flowers,  and  at  all  the  doors  and  at  all  the 
windows  were  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  village  in 
their  gala  clothes,  silently  waiting  there  to  see  us 
pass  by.  I  never  saw  such  a  complete  turn-out 
of  a  village  before.  As  we  passed  numbers 
of  men  and  boys  fell  out  and  followed  us.  We 
passed  by  large  lotus  ponds  and  temples,  whose 
admirable  proportions  and  air  of  utter  desolation 
much  tempted  me  to  pause.  But  evening  was 
drawing  on,  and  many  hundreds  were  now 
following  us.  It  seemed  more  convenient  to 
enter  our  boat  and  push  off,  looking  out  for 
long  -  legged,  cream  -  coloured  cranes,  and  fire 
flies,  which  last  when  they  came  on  board  our 
boat  turned  out  to  be  fat,  luminous  beetles. 


76      IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

And  now  the  pleasant  week  at  Wuhu  had 
come  to  an  end,  and  the  water  of  the  Yangtze 
flowed  yellow  brown,  as  we  passed  by  fields  of 
millet  and  sorghum,  quiet  farmsteads  shut  in  by 
trees,  temples  with  finely-curved  roofs,  distant 
blue  mountains,  and  creeks  full  of  masts  leading 
up  to  them.  Here  is  a  town  all  agog.  Blue- 
gowned  Chinamen  massed  by  hundreds  here, 
there,  and  again  there  in  each  clear  space  by  the 
water  to  see  the  steamer  pass,  blue-gowned  men 
and  red-trousered  women  standing  out  against 
the  sky  in  high-up  Shai-tai,  staring  with  all  their 
might  and  main.  There  is  a  wedding  procession 
with  gay  scarlet  umbrellas,  or  is  it  some  grand 
Mandarin  the  people  are  welcoming  ?  For  there 
are  triumphal  arches.  Here  are  frightened 
buffaloes  and  homely  peasants  pausing  from 
their  daily  toil.  We  pass  by  in  the  steamer,  as 
we  do  in  life,  seeing  the  outside  of  many  public 
events,  of  many  individual  lives,  ignorant  alto- 
gether of  those  realities  beneath,  which  make 
life  worth  the  living  to  the  people  we  pass  by, 
going  about  our  own  business,  and  wholly  pre- 
occupied by  it,  as  they  also  by  theirs. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE  DRAGON  KING'S  CAVERN  AND  THE  DOME  : 
ICHANG 

T  T  had  really  been  too  hot  to  write  an  account 
of  our  expedition  to  the  Dragon  King's 
Cavern  and  the  Dome,  through  the  wonderful 
conglomerate  region  to  the  south  and  east  of 
Ichang.  This  is  as  different  as  possible  from  the 
by  comparison  graceful  and  pleasing  limestone 
country  of  the  Ichang  Gorge.  But  much  more 
noteworthy,  for,  as  far  as  I  know,  the  only  other 
example  of  it  on  at  all  as  large  a  scale  is 
Montserrat  in  Spain.  We  started  in  the  after- 
noon, A.  and  I  taking  chairs,  Mr  M.  trusting  to 
his  feet  alone,  but  he  had  in  the  end  to  be  carried 
pick-a-back  over  the  stream,  which  we  crossed 
and  recrossed  till  I  was  almost  tired  of  it.  We 
only  got  into  the  conglomerate  country  towards 
evening,  huge  blocks  of  rock  fallen  down,  and  as 
A.  pointed  out  to  me,  with  the  granite  pebbles, 
which  go  to  their  making,  generally  broken  in 
two,  thus  showing  not  only  how  violent  had  been 
the  force  of  their  disruption  but  how  strong  the 

77 


78      IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

conglomerate  mixture  that  united  them,  since  the 
granite    broke   soonest.     Dry   rivers   with   stony 
beds,  mountains  with  bulging   sides,  always  the 
cracks  in  them  horizontal  and  quite  straight,  as 
if  ruled  by  a  ruler,  and  with  little  holes  like  those 
that   come   in   a    plum   pudding   in   the   boiling, 
recalling    the    common    name    of  pudding-stone. 
The  valleys  here  do  not  grow  narrower  and  more 
winding   as    one   goes   up   them,   but   end   quite 
abruptly  in  precipices.     And  as  it  grew  darker 
the  narrow  path  we  were  following  looked  as   if 
it  were  leading  us  into  the  very  bowels  of  the 
mountains,    till   at   last   when    under   some   very 
funereal-looking  cypresses  I  saw  a  solemn  gate- 
way,  which  by  its  sudden  turn  seemed  as  if  it 
must    take    us    there    quite    straight,    it    really 
required  an  effort  of  will  to  go  on.     I  could  quite 
imagine  turning  back,  and  flying  down  the  steep 
path  to  the  next  village,  as  if  pursued  by  demons. 
However  another  sharp  turn  inside  the  gateway, 
and   another    gate,    and   a   long   flight   of    steps 
under  dark  cypresses  brought  us  to  the  gate  and 
the  court-yard,  on  which  look  down  the  several 
coquettish     and     stork  -  and  -  dragon     decorated 
temples,  all  situated  well  within  the  overhanging 
arch  of  Lung  Wang  Tung,  the  Dragon  King's 
Cavern.     A  most  friendly  light  shone  out  from 
the  high-up  window  of  the  grand  guest-chamber, 


THE  DRAGON  KING'S  CAVERN  79 

only  dimmed  by  the  shower  of  water  always 
dripping  over  it  like  a  veil  of  tears  from  the  top 
of  the  cavern  into  the  large  basin  made  to  receive 
it  in  the  courtyard  below. 

Two  more  flights  of  steps  brought  us  into  the 
monastery.  Oh !  the  ugliness  of  these  Buddhist 
priests !  We  found  all  our  men,  chairs  and  all, 
were  behind — so  Mr  M.  and  A.  were  both  most 
pressing  to  me  to  change  into  a  spare  coat  each 
had,  as  of  course  all  the  things  we  all  of  us  had  on 
were  wet  through  with  the  heat.  However,  it 
was  so  damp  and  chilly  there,  I  thought  one 
person  had  better  be  uncomfortable  than  two,  so  I 
waited  till  the  things  came.  Then  there  being  no 
doors  to  the  guest-room,  I  solemnly  notified  every- 
one I  could  that  I  was  now  going  to  wash  and 
change.  Just  as  I  was  in  full  swing  in  came  three 
Buddhist  priests  with  cakes  and  seeds  and  tea.  I 
ordered  them  not  to  come  in,  I  gesticulated,  I  told 
them  to  go.  I  called  the  coolie  to  call  his  master 
to  interpret.  But  not  the  slightest  notice  would 
Anyone  take  of  me,  which,  however,  under  the 
circumstances,  was  perhaps  just  as  well — until 
with  mathematical  accuracy  the  table  was  laid, 
and  the  priests  were  thoroughly  satisfied  as  to 
their  own  arrangements.  Anything  like  the  im- 
penetrability of  the  Chinese,  unless  you  address 
them  in  their  own  tongue,  I  never  did  see. 


8o      IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

At   last   we   got   dinner,    and   went   to   bed — on 
tables  ! 

Next  morning  we  started  off  for  the  Wen  Fo 
Shan  or  Dome.  Such  dreary-looking  country  we 
walked  through,  patches  of  cultivation  scratched 
here  and  there,  looking  as  if  they  had  been 
scratched  too  hard  and  the  rock  had  come  through 
— always  bulging  out,  with  straight,  horizontal 
fissures  and  little  round  holes.  Always  dry  river 
rock  beds !  But  in  one  waterfall,  with  water  in  it 
too,  one  leap  we  all  estimated  at  about  one  thousand 
feet.  The  path  led  along  the  side  of  a  precipice, 
somewhere  in  the  middle  of  it.  It  didn't  look 
anything  particular  when  walking  along  it,  but 
looking  back  at  it  from  the  opposite  side,  I  could 
quite  imagine  people  getting  goose  skin  over  it. 
The  other  side  was  a  very  steep  climb,  all  made 
into  steps,  which  at  present  make  very  good 
walking.  We  got  so  hot  and  out  of  breath  that 
when  Mr  M.,  as  if  having  racked  a  well-stored 
memory  for  all  he  had  ever  heard  upon  the 
subject,  said  he  believed  that  sucking  an  orange 
was  the  very  best  thing  for  getting  up  a  hill,  we 
at  once  found  a  beautiful  flat  rock  to  sit  upon  and 
were  thoroughly  happy  for  a  time.  Then  up  again  ! 
when  A.  suddenly  called  out  from  the  front, 
"  Well !  I  don't  care.  I  really  must  sit  down  and 
smoke  a  cigar  before  we  go  any  further."  I  was 


THE  DRAGON  KING'S  CAVERN  81 

just  about  to  be  very  severe  with  him  and  Mr  M. 
for  wanting  to  smoke  before  they  got  to  the  top, 
for  they  had  made  us  late  the  evening  before  by 
greatly  enjoying  a  bathe  and  swim  in  the  stream, 
when  my  "  Well,  really ! "  died  away,  as  I  became 
aware  we  were  actually  at  the  top  of  what  we  had 
been  climbing,  and  there  just  at  our  feet  the  valley, 
and  opposite  to  us,  only  joined  on  to  our  hill  by  a 
narrow  ledge  of  rock,  precipices  on  either  side,  the 
Dome  rising  some  three  or  four  hundred  feet 
above  us,  and  going  almost  sheer  down  into  the 
valley  at  our  feet,  with  to  the  right  of  it  a  wall  of 
rock  stretching  out,  I  should  say,  eight  hundred 
feet  above  the  valley  beneath,  and  almost  as 
smooth  as  if  it  had  been  planed.  The  Dome 
stood  out  of  a  grand  setting  of  range  beyond  range 
of  distant  mountains,  which  in  themselves  formed 
a  most  beautiful  view,  without  the  very  startling 
foreground  of  this  wonderful  Wen  Fo  Shan.  The 
others,  who  had  known  what  was  coming,  rather 
chuckled  over  my  surprise  and  their  smoke ;  and 
then  we  walked  along  the  edge  of  the  precipice  to 
the  narrow,  connecting  ledge.  Before  we  crossed, 
Mr  M.  photographed  the  Dome  with  its  trees  and 
temples  on  the  top,  and  I  measured  the  path  from 
which  he  took  his  photograph.  Exactly  four  times 
the  length  of  my  foot  could  fit  into  it,  but  no  more. 
The  connecting  ledge  made  even  me  feel 


82      IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

disinclined  to  look  down,  for  one  had  to  go  down 
some  rugged  steps  on  to  it,  which  added  to  the 
giddy  feeling.  But  of  course  I  conquered  my  dis- 
inclination and  looked  round  over  the  most  weird, 
distraught-looking  country  I  ever  saw.  When 
those  evil  spirits  were  turned  into  swine  and  ran 
violently  down  a  steep  place  I  think  they  must 
have  chosen  some  country  like  this.  But  it  was 
not  altogether  abandoned  to  evil  influences,  for 
beautiful,  tall,  white  lilies,  twice  the  height  and  size 
of  virgin  lilies,  Lilium  Brownii,  as  they  are  some- 
what inappropriately  called,  were  watching  all 
around,  and  I  never  tasted  nicer  blackberries, 
though  they  ripened  without  taking  the  trouble 
to  turn  red. 

The  temples  were  very  well  kept,  and  the 
steps  up  to  them  were  in  beautiful  order.  But  it 
was  very  oppressive  on  the  top,  and  I  was  glad  to 
get  down  again  to  the  spot  where  the  view  first 
burst  upon  us  like  a  coup  de  theatre.  Although 
first  we  took  a  long  glance  down  the  windings  of 
the  Yangtze,  as  far  as  we  could  see,  to  try  and 
distinguish  some  trace  of  any  steamer  coming  up 
from  Hankow.  Seeing  none  we  spent  another 
night  at  Lung  Wang  Tung.  The  first  evening, 
by  a  flickering  candle,  a  priest  had  conducted  us 
through  the  vast,  cavernous  kitchen,  up  steps  and 
down  steps,  through  first  one  chapel  and  then 


THE  DRAGON  KING'S  CAVERN  83 

another  till  we  felt  thoroughly  mystified.  But  in 
the  early  morning  going  by  myself  the  romantic 
impression  made  upon  me  was  greatly  deepened. 
At  the  back  there  is  a  subterranean  lake  said  to 
stretch  on  for  ever.  A  man  tried  to  explore  it 
once.  But  he  never  came  back  again.  There  is 
a  very  big  boat  kept  beside  it  now — the  gift  of 
some  dignitary — and  this  is  solemnly  launched  in 
times  of  drought,  when  the  priests  go  to  beseech 
the  Dragon  King  to  turn  himself  round  and  send 
rain,  for  they  regard  him  as  the  giver  of  water, 
and  therefore  have  built  these  three  temples, 
shutting  him  in  lest  he  should  escape  and  drought 
for  ever  reign  over  the  land.  The  water  was  so 
clear  I  could  hardly  see  it  in  the  semi-darkness, 
and  was  dreadfully  afraid  of  stepping  into  it  by 
mistake,  the  more  so  as  a  curious  blue  vapour 
was  hovering  over  the  surface  of  the  water,  and 
as  I  thought  drawing  me  on.  But  I  went  on 
exploring,  until  I  suddenly  found  myself  in  a 
chapel  I  had  not  seen  before,  and  there  sat  a 
grave  dark  man  wrapped  in  a  scarlet  mantle,  his 
head  bowed  in  thought.  He  resembled  so  greatly 
an  Indian,  who  came  to  London  a  little  while  ago 
—as  he  said,  to  teach  the  English  people  that 
they  had  lost  sight  of  the  real  and  the  spiritual  in 
the  material — that  for  a  moment  I  thought  it  was 
he.  The  blue  vapour  again  permeated  this 


84      IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

temple,  and  by  an  optical  delusion  made  it  seem 
as  if  the  figure  moved.  It  was  that  of  a  man  who 
wrought  wonderful  cures  under  the  Sung  Dynasty 
— Chang  Lu.  If  it  at  all  resembles  the  original, 
some  of  his  cures  must,  I  think,  have  been 
effected  by  mesmerism.  I  never  saw  a  more 
life-like  figure.  Even  writing  of  it,  its  influence 
oppresses  me,  and  this  the  more  because  I  have 
not  seen  one  other  image  in  China,  that  has  made 
the  least  impression  of  any  kind  upon  me. 

I  went  back  and  found  A.  sitting  at  the 
window  of  the  guest-room,  looking  out  through 
the  ever-falling  veil  of  water  between  it  and  the 
romantic  view  outside,  where  woods  of  fir  and 
cypress  half  conceal  the  isolated  pyramid  and 
cube  of  rock  standing  apart  at  the  end  of  the  hill, 
that  shuts  in  the  cavern  to  the  right.  He  was 
interviewing  dirty  priests  with  dirty  manuscripts. 
I  interviewed  a  baby  priest  of  two  years  old,  the 
votive  offering  of  his  father  and  mother,  who  had 
three  elder  children.  He  was  horribly  afraid 
of  me. 

Then  we  started  downwards  back  to  Ichang 
by  another  route.  The  rain  poured ;  the  mud ! 
well,  we  once  or  twice  thought  a  paddy  field 
easier  walking  than  the  path.  But  all  things 
come  to  an  end  some  day,  and  at  last  we  arrived 
at  the  creek  running  into  the  Yangtze  at  the 


THE  DRAGON  KING'S  CAVERN  85 

picturesque  village  of  Anne  Miao,  the  loveliest 
spot  in  the  view  from  Ichang.  We  stept  into  a 
boat — there  was  another  in  which  cormorants 
with  rings  round  their  throats  were  tranquilly 
fishing — and  in  spite  of  pouring  rain  reached  home 
hardly  wet  at  all,  to  be  greeted  by  the  sinologues 
of  Ichang  with  "Well,  you  must  have  set  your- 
selves to  '  Ch'u  Ming ' "  (get  yourselves  a  name), 
"  to  have  dared  walked  down  the  mountain  in 
weather  like  this."  A.  had  barely  time  to  dress 
before  starting  back  for  Anne  Miao,  where  the 
Mandarins  were  giving  the  Europeans  a  grand 
dinner  in  the  European  style,  which,  however,  did 
not  prevent  their,  before  it  was  over,  stripping  to 
the  waist  in  Chinese  style,  for  the  weather  was 
oppressive.  As  for  me,  I  lay  down  and  slept 
after  seven  hours'  plodding  through  mud  such  as 
I  never  saw  before. 

In  common  justice  to  Lung  Wang  Tung  I 
ought  to  say  that,  though  it  is  damp,  I  think  now 
probably  the  blue  vapour  was  but  innocent  blue 
smoke  escaping  from  the  cavernous  kitchen, 
where  our  breakfast  was  cooking  the  while. 
Anyway  it  enhanced  the  effect  of  what  I  must 
always  think  the  most  melodramatic  lodging  in 
which  I  have  yet  stayed. 

Let  those  keep  away  from  the  Yangtze  gorges 
who  think,  like  White  of  Selborne,  that  "there  is 


86      IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

somewhat  peculiarly  sweet  and  amusing  in  the 
shapely-figured  aspect  of  chalk-hills  in  preference 
to  those  of  stone."  For  the  gorges  are  all  lime- 
stone, dolomite,  granite,  porphyry.  But  though 
they  are  "  broken  "  and  "  abrupt "  enough,  cleft  as 
with  a  dagger  at  times,  and  contrasting  favourably, 
as  I  am  told,  for  grandeur  with  the  chasms  of  the 
Irrawaddy  or  the  canyons  of  Colorado,  yet  they 
are  always  "  shapely,"  nor  is  there  anything  sinister 
or  "  rugged  "  about  them. 

On  the  way  to  San  Yeu-tung,  at  the  entrance 
to  the  first  gorge,  butterflies  flew  beside  our  path, 
poising  obligingly  from  time  to  time,  so  that  I 
admired  closely  eight  different  kinds  in  less  than 
two  hours  :  the  little  blue  Thekla,  or  its  Chinese 
representative  ;  the  large  white  cabbage  butterfly, 
yellow  butterflies,  a  coarse,  greedy-looking  butter- 
fly with  a  fine  swallow-tail,  a  huge  butterfly 
glorious  with  peacock-blue  feathers  on  its  wings  ; 
most  interesting  of  all,  a  butterfly  of  soft  red- 
brown,  with  broad  bars  of  brilliant  yellow,  such  as 
made  it  quite  a  gorgeous  creature  when  it  spread 
its  wide  wings  for  flight ;  when,  on  the  other 
hand,  it  closed  them,  its  wings  looked  for  all  the 
world  like  two  withered  leaves,  the  flecking  at  the 
edges  giving  them  even  a  crinkled  appearance, 
and  the  veins  down  the  middle  exactly  simulating 
a  leafs  strong  middle  stalk.  A  lizard  with  a  very 


THE  DRAGON  KING'S  CAVERN  87 

long  tail  paused  to  reconnoitre  us.  It  had 
beautifully-pencilled,  golden  stripes  on  either  side 
of  its  back,  and  most  delicate,  graceful  legs  ;  but  it 
turned  to  look  at  us  quite  a  large,  toad-like  head 
with  little  protuberances  all  over  it.  A  red  dragon 
fly,  with  body  like  that  of  a  bee  tucked  down 
under  its  elegant  tail,  poised  itself  over  the  water. 
For  in  spite  of  the  drought  the  stream  ran  merrily 
down  the  glen,  which  we  traversed  again  and 
again  on  stepping-stones  mostly  under  the  shadow 
of  the  overhanging  cliffs. 

From  San-yeu-tung  one  can  walk  across 
country  past  the  T'aiping  Shan,  as  beautiful  a  site 
for  a  house  as  one  could  find  anywhere,  with  the 
Terrace  of  the  Sun  immediately  opposite — a  tiny 
temple  niched  on  the  top  of  a  precipice  about  two 
thousand  feet  high,  the  great  Yangtze  River 
rolling  between — an  amphitheatre  of  mountains  all 
round,  and  immediately  to  the  right  the  Chin-kan- 
shan.  The  latter  is  over  three  thousand  feet  high, 
and  has  again  a  temple  on  the  summit  on  only  a 
slightly  larger  plateau.  But  to  reach  that  summit 
you  have  to  walk  along  one  of  those  connecting 
ledges  of  rock,  that  at  first  a  little  try  the  nerve 
of  the  unaccustomed.  You  can  walk  on  past  the 
Chin-kan-shan,  past  the  dreaded  whirlpools  of 
Nan  tor,  on  and  on  to  the  very  end  of  the  gorges, 
to  Chung-king  if  you  please.  And  all  the  way 


88      IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

you  may  saunter  along  winding  mountain-paths, 
up  and  down  flights  of  steps.  Never  an  inch  of 
roadway !  Never  a  dusty  thoroughfare  or  disdain- 
ful pushing  to  one  side  to  make  place  for  carriage 
gentry !  A  foot  tourist  could  desire  no  pleasanter 
touring  ground.  But  is  not  this  all  described  in 
my  husband's  Through  the  Yangtze  Gorges  ?  So 
I  must  not  pause  over  this  enchanting  region,  a 
perfect  Paradise  for  pedestrians. 


CHAPTER    IX 

FENGTU  :    THE   CHINESE    HADES 

A  LL  through  China,  whenever  anyone  dies,  a 
*^  letter  is  solemnly  written  to  Fengtu-cheng. 
Has  a  letter  from  there  ever  been  received  in 
England  before  ?  Written  in  English  too,  in  this 
region  peopled  by  Chinese  ghosts,  reckoning  all 
those  who  do  not  speak  Chinese  as  dumb  people. 
The  letters  to  Fengtu  are  solemnly  burned  by  the 
Taoist  priest,  who  writes  them,  as  the  best  way  of 
delivering  them  to  the  Emperor  of  the  Dead, 
whose  visible  home  is  there,  as  that  of  the  T'ien 
Tze,  the  Emperor  of  the  Living,  is  at  Peking. 

The  Boy  had  just  handed  in  his  accounts,  and 
there  was  one  item  that  startled  me  that  night : 
"  Pluto's  Priest,  5000  cash."  "Pluto's  Priest! 
Whatever  do  you  mean  ?  "  I  exclaimed.  But  the 
Boy  was  stolid.  "  That  priest — that  come  to  the 
boat,"  was  all  he  said.  "But  who  taught  you  to 
call  him  Pluto's  Priest  ?"  "  My  savey  he  belong 
Pluto's  Priest."  It  seemed  it  must  be  in  his 
book.  We  all  have  books  to  learn  languages 

from.     And  it  seems  Pluto's  Priest  had  a  book 
G  89 


90       IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

too,  a  red  book  very  big — with  such  big  sums 
in  it  that  no  less  than  5000  cash  could  be  entered. 
And  as  his  temple  is  said  to  have  been  built  in 
the  After  Han  Dynasty  (A.D.  220)  it  would  be  a 
pity  if  it  were  not  kept  in  repair.  It  is  at  the 
top  of  a  hill,  all  covered  with  temples,  and  with 
a  lovely,  green -roofed  pagoda  at  the  foot.  The 
hill  is  also  covered  with  beautiful  trees,  and  com- 
mands one  of  those  fascinating  views  of  the 
Yangtze,  that  tempt  one  to  look  on  and  on.  But 
there  is  nothing  very  beautiful  in  the  temple  itself, 
nor  anything  in  the  red  sandstone  hill  on  which  it 
stands,  or  the  smiling  scenery  on  which  it  looks, 
to  explain  why  it  is  dedicated  to  the  Lord  of  the 
Dead.  The  Elysian  Fields,  though  not  particu- 
larly awe-inspiring,  have  at  least  a  dead-alive 
air. 

We  saw  the  dry  well,  that  is  said  to  reach 
down  to  the  river  bed,  but  the  burning  paper, 
that  is  being  continually  thrown  in  to  show  its 
depth  has  filled  it  up  to  within  about  thirty  feet 
of  the  surface.  We  saw  also  the  image  of  the 
Emperor  of  the  Dead  seated  between  his  two 
wives.  That  on  the  left  hand  is  said  to  be  the 
skeleton  of  a  woman,  acquired  as  his  second  wife, 
some  three  hundred  years  ago,  when  she  was 
really  on  her  way  in  her  wedding  chair  to  be 
married  to  someone  else,  a  mere  mortal  man. 


FENGTU:    THE  CHINESE  HADES  91 

But  we  could  only  see  its  very  smart  embroidered 
dress,  and  take  the  skeleton  on  trust.  I  was  very 
anxious  to  buy  a  memento  of  such  an  interesting 
place,  and  the  Boy  declared  a  number  of  little 
bows,  each  with  two  small  arrows  tied  to  it,  hung 
up  in  one  of  the  temples,  were  for  sale.  So  I 
took  them  down  to  make  my  choice,  when  it 
turned  out  they  were  votive  offerings  on  behalf 
of  sick  children.  So  also  he  now  says  is  a 
gigantic  iron  knife  stood  up  on  end  in  front  of 
one  of  the  temples,  and  from  which  hangs  a  little 
bell.  Priests  and  people  were  alike  most  good- 
natured.  Straying  into  some  back  premises  we 
came  upon  an  ornamental  iron  cover  to  the  won- 
derful well.  It  had  a  dragon's  head  at  the  top, 
and  I  thought  I  should  like  to  photograph  it,  and 
when  I  asked  if  I  might  carry  it  outside,  and 
desired  two  of  our  soldiers  to  do  so,  no  one  made 
the  least  objection.  A  priest  was  even  quite 
ready  to  pose  beside  it,  only  suggesting  that,  if  he 
held  a  burning  joss  stick  it  would  look  better. 

We  were  quite  a  party.  For  besides  ourselves 
there  was  the  Boy,  and  the  cook,  who  on  this  one 
occasion  thought  he  would  like  to  go  too,  and 
the  Tsaijen,  sent  by  the  excellent  authorities  of 
Chung-chow  to  protect  us — a  most  dilapidated 
specimen,  but  a  peremptory  old  gentleman  enough, 
as  I  learnt  when  an  urchin,  probably  to  attract  my 


92       IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

attention  rather  than  out  of  malice,  threw  a  small 
stone.  Then  there  were  three  soldiers  from  our 
gunboat,  and  last  but  not  least  important  there 
was  our  little  dog,  whom  somebody  always  had  to 
carry  when  the  crowd  grew  thick.  Going  up  by 
the  most  secluded  way  we  had  only  between  fifty 
and  sixty  people  for  escort.  But  at  the  top  the 
crowd  thickened  every  moment,  and  all  the  way 
down  there  were  groups  waiting  for  us.  The 
descent — a  serried  crowd — past  a  winding  row  of 
wretched-looking  creatures  begging  was  certainly 
disagreeable.  But  the  people  were  very  friendly, 
one  woman  even  coming  up  and  asking  as  a 
favour  that  the  little  dog  might  be  put  down  for 
a  moment,  because  she  wanted  so  much  to  see  it. 
There  were  several  representations  of  Hades  and 
the  Judgment,  and  there  were  three  bridges  all 
together  as  we  came  down,  highly  ornamented 
like  the  bridges  that  only  the  good  are  supposed 
to  be  able  to  cross  after  death.  But  the  most 
interesting  sight  was  the  pilgrims,  so  many  nicely- 
dressed  women  with  the  uncommonly  short  petti- 
coats and  large  earrings  they  wear  in  these  parts. 
Boats  full  of  them  were  going  up  river,  as  we 
came  up  past  the  town  of  Fengtu  (rebuilt  since  it 
was  washed  away  in  the  great  inundation  of  1870) 
and  tied  up  beneath  the  imposing  walls,  which  the 
then  magistrate  built  for  a  new  city,  safe  up  in  the 


FENGTU:    THE  CHINESE  HADES          93 

hills  out  of  the  way  of  inundations,  and  also  of  all 
business,  and  thus  never  inhabited  ;  even  the 
yamens  standing  empty,  and  the  gate  towers  and 
part  of  the  battlements  having  already  fallen  off. 
We  have  tied  up  here,  because  we  have  at  last 
succeeded  in.  getting  a  new  mast.  Our  mast  was 
first  mended  with  an  old  shoe,  but  that  could  not 
last  for  ever.  The  shoe  was  supplemented  by  a 
stout  stick,  and  three  days  ago  that  gave  way, 
and  the  mast  fell  with  a  crash  across  our  cabin. 
The  day  after  that  we  ran  on  a  rock,  and  made 
such  a  big  leak  that  all  the  men's  bedding  had  to 
be  put  out  on  the  shore,  and  it  took  half  a  day  to 
repair  the  damage.  It  was  then  the  Chung-chow 
authorities  thought  it  necessary  to  send  us  a  pro- 
tector. Another  day  we  ran  on  another  rock,  and 
did  not  spring  a  leak,  but  broke  our  tow-line,  and 
went  careering  down  stream,  fortunately  not  very 
far  before  we  pulled  up.  I  really  did  hope  we 
might  get  to  Chungking  without  any  further 
accidents.  For  the  scenery  was  no  longer  so 
grand  and  the  mobbing  in  or  near  the  towns  was 
certainly  most  tiring.  Wanhsien  was  the  worst 
place.  There  three  soldiers  found  it  all  they 
could  do  to  keep  the  crowd  off  me.  But  at 
Chung-chow,  everyone  on  the  beach  having  run 
round  a  long  reach  to  get  on  to  a  lonely  boulder 
bank  where  I  was  photographing,  with  five 


94       IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

soldiers  that  time,  a  number  of  them  thought 
they  would  like  to  come  away  after  us  by  boat, 
and  so  many  crowded  in,  that  it  simply  sank 
under  them.  There  were  three  boat-loads  of 
them  in  the  end,  and  more  still  to  be  brought 
away,  when  we  left  the  place. 

The  country  people  are  too  much  astonished  to 
be  troublesome,  but  the  most  interesting  person  we 
have  met  was  a  priest,  who  was  journeying  along 
with  two  men  to  carry  his  things  for  him.  When- 
ever they  had  occasion  to  speak  to  him  they  inclined 
their  bodies  in  the  most  reverent  manner,  and  in 
all  his  conversation  he  never  said  a  single  sentence 
without  somewhere  introducing  "  Omito  Fo,"  which 
I  take  to  be  "  Holy  is  Buddha."  So  if  reputa- 
tions are  won  in  China,  in  the  same  way  they  are 
in  Midlothian,  by  simply  professing  to  be  good, 
he  is  probably  esteemed  exceptionally  holy. 
Szechuan  is  a  very  religious  part  of  China, 
with  so  many  temples,  not  to  speak  of  the  little 
shrines  built  round  the  Hoang  Ko,  those  beautiful 
shady  trees  that  crown  nearly  every  hill,  and  are 
also  to  be  found  filling  up  every  post  of  vantage 
in  the  valleys  with  their  tangled  mass  of  roots,  and 
spreading  evergreen  foliage.  Szechuan  seems 
also  to  be  the  place  for  pretty  Chinese  women. 
There  was  quite  a  beauty  in  the  boat  next  to  us 
at  Wanhsien,  where  almost  all  the  women  were 


FENGTU:    THE  CHINESE  HADES  95 

nice-looking,  with  rosy  cheeks  and  bright  eyes. 
And  another  day  I  saw  a  girl  like  the  Beatrice 
Cenci  hanging  over  a  farmhouse  wall,  though  of 
course  it  was  partly  the  white  Szechuan  head-cloth, 
that  made  the  likeness,  also  perhaps  the  dazed, 
hopeless,  slave-girl  expression.  As  a  rule  the 
girls  are  anything  but  hopeless  here.  And  one 
moves  along  to  the  sound  of  rippling  laughter,  as 
in  Japan.  Anything  indeed  less  like  the  sleek, 
yellow  Chinaman  of  the  ports  it  would  be  hard  to 
imagine,  for  the  men  here  wear  their  kerchiefs 
with  an  air,  and  are  uncommonly  good-looking, 
and  the  women  certainly  are  coquettish.  I  must 
remember,  however,  that  I  am  at  Fengtu-cheng, 
close  to  the  Land  of  Shadows.  I  have  only  to 
look  out  and  see  the  lights  of  "  Pluto's  "  priests, 
and  all  round  the  poppy  growing  in  long  straight 
rows,  carefully  weeded,  carefully  watered,  and 
looking  in  as  exquisite  perfection  of  health  as  its 
votaries  do  the  reverse.  It  is  rather  on  subjects 
like  poppies  and  opium  that  one  should  moralise 
at  Fengtu. 


CHAPTER  X 

CHEAP    MISSIONARIES 

r  I  ^HE  question  of  missionaries  is  always  a  Fordre 
du  jour  in  China,  and  the  question  of  the 
day  before  the  Boxer  uprising  was  distinctively 
cheap  missionaries.  For  that  missionaries  of  some 
sort  or  other  have  come,  are  coming  and  will  con- 
tinue to  come,  appears  certain.  Whether  it  is 
better  to  have  one  missionary  backed  by  a  salary 
of,  say,  two  hundred  pounds  a  year,  or  to  have 
four  missionaries  struggling  against  the  Chinese 
climate  and  the  difficulties  of  the  Chinese  language 
on  a  doubtful  fifty  pounds  a  year  or  less  is  the 
point  debatable.  How  they  do  it  is  the  question. 
The  China  Inland  Mission  gives  its  members 
house-rent.  But  they  have  to  find  everything  else, 
food,  clothes,  medicines,  travelling  expenses,  books 
or  tracts  to  give  away,  together  with  salaries  of 
Chinese  assistants.  Mr  Horsburgh  says  he  can 
live  on  ten  dollars  a  month.  We  find  our  Chinese 
coolie  reckons  his  food  alone  costs  him  $4.65  for 
a  month  of  thirty-one  days.  That  leaves  $5.35  * 
for  everything  else  per  month.  But  how  an 

*  At  that  date  a  little  over  ten  shillings. 
96 


IN    SUMMER    TIME    UP   COUNTRY;    THOSE    MISSIONARIES   COME   TO   CONVERT. 

{By  Mr  Kverall. 


DRAGON    BOAT   AND    UPWARD-BOUND    PASSENGER    BOAT   AT    1CHANG. 
To  face  page  96.  ]  [Sy  Mr  piske. 


CHEAP  MISSIONARIES  97 

English  gentleman  accustomed  to  the  generous 
fare  of  old  England  is  to  keep  alive  even  on  what 
sustains  a  Chinese  coolie  is  again  a  difficulty.  Dur- 
ing one  summer  we  had  the  pleasure  of  visiting 
several  mission  stations  in  the  West  of  China, 
both  those  of  the  Roman  Catholics,  to  whom  most 
travellers  award  lavishly  the  praise  they  deny  to 
missionaries  of  their  own  Church,  and  those  of  the 
China  Inland,  and  of  Mr  Horsburgh's  new  Church 
Mission.  From  all  alike,  it  goes  without  saying,  we 
received  much  kindliness,  besides  that  inestimable 
boon  to  the  traveller,  hearing  in  each  case  a  little 
meed  of  fairly  accurate  information  about  the 
neighbourhood,  such  as  it  would  be  impossible  to 
wring  out  of  the  surrounding  Chinese.  Amongst 
the  men  of  the  different  missions — we  did  not  then 
come  across  any  lady  missionaries — it  would  be 
most  invidious  to  institute  a  comparison.  Suffice 
it  to  say,  that  those  of  whom  we  saw  the  most 
impressed  us  the  most  highly,  which  is  as  it  should 
be,  and  if  there  be  saints  still  on  earth,  one  or 
two  of  those  we  met  struck  us  as  very  like  our 
idea  of  them.  Although  there  were  others,  who 
did  not  seem  quite  the  best  calculated  to  awaken 
the  Chinese  to  the  lovableness  of  a  new  Faith. 

But  to  turn  from  the  men  to  the  missions,  and 
to  begin  with  the  Roman  Catholics,  as  the  longest 
established.  We  first  visited  a  Roman  Catholic 


98      IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

village,  that  had  been  converted  to  Christianity 
some  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago — Ta-tien-tze. 
There  was  no  church  there,  no  resident  priest 
foreign  or  Chinese,  but  a  house  built  by  the 
villagers  at  their  own  expense,  by  their  own  hands, 
to  receive  their  priest,  when  he  could  come  to 
them,  with  a  large  entrance  hall  arranged  to 
serve  as  a  chapel.  The  village  supported  three 
girls'  schools — curiously  enough  we  did  not  hear  of 
any  boys'  schools,  but  there  must  have  been  such. 
One  taught  by  an  aged  dame  reminded  us  greatly 
of  those  taught  by  a  village  dame,  such  as  now  in 
England  only  survive  on  canvas.  It  was  in  a  small 
room  of  a  large  farmhouse,  not  well  attended, 
the  children  too  shy  to  show  off  their  attainments 
to  advantage,  and  the  aged  dame  too  deaf  to 
converse  easily.  The  other  two  were  distinctly 
better.  The  girls  read  fairly,  and  then  sang  after 
a  fashion ;  they  could  not  answer  questions  in 
arithmetic,  but  all  had  rosy  cheeks,  clean  faces 
and  bright,  intelligent  eyes.  These  last  seemed 
indeed  the  feature  of  the  village,  which  for  looks 
could  compete  with  any  we  have  seen  in  China. 
Indeed  the  contrast  between  it  and  the  surround- 
ing villages  in  this  respect  was  most  remarkable, 
as  also  its  comparative  cleanliness.  Visiting  some 
outlying  farms  we  hardly  required  to  hear  the 
answer  to  our  question  given  by  an  awkward- 


CHEAP  MISSIONARIES  99 

looking  boy — "  No,  I  am  not  sealed  to  the  Faith," 
the  Chinese  phrase  for  being  baptised,  "  I  belong 
to  the  Three  Religions,"  Taoism,  Buddhism,  and 
Confucianism  it  is  to  be  supposed, — for  the 
slatternly  surroundings  sufficiently  showed  that 
the  inmates  belonged  to  the  modern  faith  of  China 
as  regards  cleanliness.  Whilst  in  the  next  village 
to  that  of  the  Christians  there  seemed  to  be  a 
regular  gathering  of  bad  characters,  with  such 
sore  eyes,  and  so  filthy,  that  it  was  hardly  possible 
even  to  eat  there  in  passing.  A  very  clean-look- 
ing, respectable  man,  pursuing  the  same  route 
with  ourselves,  said  he  was  the  owner  of  an  inn 
further  on,  and  again  a  Christian,  and  though  the 
distance  was  rather  too  great  we  immediately 
decided  to  push  on  for  dinner,  and  were  rewarded 
by  one  of  the  cleanest  rooms  we  had  had  occasion 
to  see  for  many  a  long  day.  As  it  came  out  that 
he  was  brother-in-law  of  the  owner  of  the  inn  in 
the  Christian  village,  and  each,  though  barely 
more  than  in  the  prime  of  life,  boasted  of  having 
already  more  than  sixty  descendants,  it  may  be 
that  the  Christian  village  owes  its  comeliness  and 
superior  physique  to  its  being  chiefly  peopled  by 
one  large,  healthy,  goqd-looking  family  rather  than 
to  its  faith.  Be  this  as  it  may,  here  is  undoubt- 
edly the  cheapest  way  of  doing  missionary  work — 
to  let  the  people  build  house  and  church  and 


TOO    IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

support  schools — and  only  send  a  priest  for  a  few 
occasional  weeks  in  the  year  to  visit  them.  But 
for  this  you  must  first  convert  your  village. 

Having  passed  a  delightful  outlying  Christian 
hamlet  situated  on  the  slope  of  an  upland  plateau, 
with  large  herds  of  cattle  grazing  round,  as  also 
several  scattered  houses,  we  at  last  arrived  at 
the  priest's  residence  at  Hoang-mu-chang,  some 
twenty-seven  miles  across  high  mountains.  Some- 
what stately  to  look  at  from  the  outside,  it  was 
notwithstanding  just  an  ordinary  Chinese  house, 
with  three  courtyards,  and  a  good  garden.  The 
church  attached  to  the  house,  the  girl's  school 
adjoining  round  the  corner,  thus  somewhat  shut 
off  from  the  priest  and  carefully  shut  off  from  the 
far  larger  boarding  school  for  boys,  were  in  this 
instance  very  satisfactory,  especially  the  church 
with  its  simple  but  bright  decorations,  which  must 
to  the  Chinese  around  seem  something  exquisitely 
lovely  and  startling  in  their  cleanliness.  We 
arrived  only  in  time  to  see  the  congregation 
disperse  after  the  very  early  Mass  on  Sunday 
morning,  many  staying  behind  for  a  conversation 
with  the  priest  and  with  one  another.  The  priest 
himself,  a  hardy  young  mountaineer  from  Central 
France,  showed  with  some  pride  the  few  panes  of 
glass  he  had  just  had  inserted  in  the  window  by 
his  writing  desk,  thus  enabling  him  to  continue 


CHEAP  MISSIONARIES  101 

working  when  a  Chinese  by  the  darkness  of  his 
paper  windows  is  compelled  to  inaction.  Other 
luxury  in  his  spacious  sitting-room  there  was  none, 
unless  we  count  a  bookcase  of  the  simplest  nature 
to  contain  the  few  books  he  had  brought  with  him 
from  France.  There  was  no  table,  ttyree  chains, 
nothing  more !  He  wore  Chinese  clothes,  with 
the  large  fanciful  straw  hat  of  the  district.  He 
had  no  wine  but  that  supplied  for  the  Mass.  It  is 
true  he  had  a  capital  mule  on  which  to  visit  his 
very  widely  scattered  parishioners.  But  he  was 
one  man  alone,  not  a  family  nor  a  pair  of  friends 
as  is  so  usual  in  our  missions.  There  was  no 
European  nearer  than  a  very  long  day's  journey 
across  the  mountains,  and  then  not  another  for 
days  and  days.  No  seven  or  ten  years  will 
entitle  him  to  a  trip  home  to  those  French  moun- 
tains, a  tiny,  pictured  guide  to  which  he  showed  us, 
but  which  we  noticed  he  did  not  venture  to  look 
at  whilst  we  were  there.  Frenchmen  are  emotional 
and  home  scenes  sometimes  awaken  too  vivid 
memories.  He  received  no  newspapers,  and  it 
seemed  few  letters.  We  asked  him  how  he 
spent  his  lonely  evenings  in  winter.  He  said 
earnestly  that  was  the  great  trial  of  the  first  year, 
but  after  that  one  had  got  over  it.  This  seemed 
to  be  emphatically  a  cheap  mission.  One  can 
hardly  doubt  that,  were  there  another  priest 


102     IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

forthcoming,  it  would  be  better  for  the  Christianity 
of  the  first  described  village,  and  that  in  the 
second  with  a  little  more  European  converse  it 
would  be  easier  to  sustain  that  energising  influence 
without  which  conversions  are  humanly  speaking 
improbable: 

It  was  a  week's  journey  before  we  came  across 
the  next  Christian  outpost,  again  Roman  Catholic. 
There  three  priests,  with  a  stately  house  outside 
the  town  of  Ta-chien-lu,  and  a  most  comfortable- 
looking  farm  on  the  other  side  of  it,  were  holding 
the  fort ;  but  it  would  hardly  seem  advancing 
much,  to  judge  by  the  diminutive  chapel,  and 
girl's  school  of  only  eight,  managed  by  a  Chinese 
Sister,  and  admirably  managed  too.  Here, 
though  evidently  desperately  shy,  the  girls- 
Tibetans — read  really  well,  sang  sweetly,  and 
answered  every  question  put  them  in  arithmetic. 
All  indeed  seemed  specially  well  arranged,  but 
when  we  thought  of  three  men,  with  a  preparation 
of  many  years  for  their  work  as  missionaries,  of 
the  outlay  upon  their  houses,  of  the  excellent 
servants  with  whom  we  came  in  contact,  the 
stately  mule  with  its  rich  caparisons,  and  not 
yet,  after  many  years,  enough  converts  and 
inquirers  to  overfill  that  little  chapel,  nor  more 
than  eight  little  girls  willing  to  receive  an  ex- 
cellent free  education,  this  struck  us  as  a  very 


CHEAP  MISSIONARIES  103 

expensive  mission,  however  abstemiously  the 
Chinese-clad  Fathers  may  live.  Here  it  will  be 
observed  there  was  some  society,  and  although 
there  were  no  newspapers,  that  was  simply  the 
fault  of  the  Chinese  posts,  not  intended.  There 
was  a  garden  full  of  flowers,  and  a  large  aviary, 
that  had  till  lately  been  full  of  birds.  The  walls 
were  covered  with  pictures,  there  was  an  abund- 
ance of  maps,  and  what  might  be  called  the 
reception-hall  was  fitted  up  with  Chinese  magnifi- 
cence, but  which  doubtless  did  not  extend  far 
beyond  it.  Unlike  English  missionaries  the 
Father,  who  especially  did  the  honours  to  us,  was 
intent  upon  giving  us  all  the  news  he  could, 
political  and  other.  Had  we  heard  the  results  of 
the  English  elections  yet  ?  And  he  hastened  to 
give  us  the  figures  of  the  different  parties.  Had 
we  heard  recently  from  the  distant  city  where  we 
lived  ?  Then  we  should  be  grieved  to  learn  of  a 
death  by  cholera  there.  He  conversed  pleasantly 
of  the  various  distinguished  travellers,  who  had 
visited  his  city,  their  routes  and  experiences.  As 
he  related  what  this  one  had  said,  what  that  one 
had  done,  it  was  only  afterwards  we  realised  that 
these  few  visits,  whose  incidents  he  touched  upon, 
extended  over  a  period  not  of  months  but  years, 
some  twenty  years  indeed,  and  represented  all 
the  intercourse  of  the  place  during  that  period 


io4     IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

with  the  outside  world.  "  You  will  never  regret 
having  come  here,"  said  he  warmly,  at  parting  ; 
"it  will  furnish  recollections  for  all  your  lives." 
"Yes!  and  we  go  away  with  the  recollections. 
But  you — you  remain — with  them."  His  eyes 
moistened.  He  had  already  been  there  eleven 
years,  but  he  still  talked  as  freshly  of  his  previous 
experiences  as  if  they  were  but  of  the  year  before. 
Truly  a  costly  mission,  we  thought. 

It  was  many  days  before  we  returned  to  the 
first  Protestant  outpost  we  had  come  across  at 
Kiating,  two  China  Inland  missionaries  and  one 
of  Mr  Horsburgh's  Church  Mission  sharing  a 
not  good  Chinese  house  in  a  certainly  lovely  city, 
but  without  a  garden,  without  a  view,  without 
any  chapel  giving  on  to  the  street,  such  a  great 
desideratum  in  pioneering  work.  They  showed 
us  that  ready  hospitality,  that  is  perhaps  a  dis- 
tinguishing feature  of  our  missions,  to  everything 
they  had  making  us  most  cordially  welcome. 
And  their  house,  although  neither  good,  nor  it 
is  to  be  feared  healthy,  seemed  like  a  haven  of 
rest  after  Chinese  inns,  with  their  squalor,  smells, 
and  staring  crowds.  The  China  Inland  Mission 
had  occupied  the  place  four  years.  At  first 
meeting  with  much  opposition,  and  having  great 
difficulty  in  getting  a  house  at  all,  they  now 
seemed  generally  respected  and  liked.  The 


CHEAP  MISSIONARIES  105 

General  opposite  appeared  on  friendly  terms ; 
two  of  the  military  A.D.C.'s,  who  came  up  with 
the  new  Governor  of  the  province,  spoke  to  us 
sympathetically  of  them  and  their  work.  One  of 
the  chief  officials  in  the  town  had  but  the  day 
before  been  to  ask  advice  about  his  eyes.  They 
had  but  one  coolie  to  cook  and  serve  them,  one 
evangelist  to  help  them  in  mission  work.  Directly 
the  summer  heat  was  over  they  had  been  in  the 
habit  of  separating,  one  remaining  at  home,  the 
other  walking  through  the  province,  preparing 
people  for  the  reception  of  the  Gospel  rather  than 
converting  them  so  far,  but  anyway  breaking 
down  prejudices.  They  evidently  lived  in  the 
simplest  possible  way,  rather  spending  their 
money  on  their  evangelists  and  on  tracts — "  We 
try  to  sell  them,  but  one  must  so  often  give  them 
away  " — than  on  getting  little  luxuries  for  them- 
selves, if  indeed  luxuries  are  to  be  had  on  a 
doubtful  fifty  pounds  a  year,  sometimes  only  forty 
pounds.  But  they  neither  spoke  of  small  funds 
nor  of  hardship,  nor  did  they  speak  feelingly  of 
exile,  but  evidently  thought  their  town  the  best 
situated,  their  Chinese  the  pleasantest  possible. 
This  is  again  a  distinguishing  feature  of  our 
missionaries ;  they  always  seem  to  like  the 
Chinese.  We  have  never  heard  French  mission- 
aries say  they  do,  but  often  the  reverse.  Perhaps 


io6     IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

this  leads  travellers,  as  a  rule,  to  think  them  the 
more  self-denying.  It  is  doubtless  more  self- 
denying  to  live  among  people  wholly  antipathetic, 
but  whether  they  are  so  or  not  is  after  all  a 
matter  of  choice. 

On  our  way  to  Mount  Omi  we  were  delayed 
in  this  station  three  days  by  torrents  of  rain  and 
the  impossibility  of  getting  across  the  Ya  River. 
One  day,  as  it  seemed  better  after  a  pouring 
night,  we  sent  our  headman  to  inquire,  but  he 
brought  back  word  the  ferry  was  sealed.  Later 
on  we  saw  roofs  of  houses,  a  drowned  dog,  etc., 
floating  down  the  river,  and  we  were  told  that  if 
it  did  not  leave  off  raining  the  authorities  were 
going  to  order  the  people  to  kill  no  more  pork, 
or  otherwise  take  life.  But  we  hoped  to  get 
away  before  that  order  came  into  force,  for 
already  our  thermometers  were  thickly  coated 
with  blue  mould,  whilst  our  dog's  remonstrating 
growls,  as  he  turned  over  and  over,  told  of  a 
legion  of  fleas.  All  this  in  the  inn's  best  room 
indicates  without  saying  that  the  smells  were  try- 
ing, and  we  should  have  been  glad  to  get  away 
to  the  fresher  air  of  the  great  sacred  mountain  of 
Omi,  beautifully  situated  though  Kiating  is,  with 
fine  trees  and  green  gardens  occupying  much  of 
the  space  within  its  walls,  with  exquisite  views  of 
the  mountains,  as  also  of  the  three  rivers  that 


CHEAP  MISSIONARIES  107 

meet  here,  together  with  tree-clad  islands,  red 
sandstone  headlands,  lovely  pavilions,  old  square 
pagodas,  not  to  speak  of  the  gigantic,  cliff-formed 
Buddha,  said  to  be  three  hundred  feet  high. 
There  are  caves  too.  One  we  explored  was  two- 
storeyed,  another  a  hundred  feet  deep,  all  care- 
fully chiselled  out  of  the  living  rock,  over  six  feet 
high,  with  recesses  for  sleeping,  for  cupboards 
apparently,  and  with  quite  elaborately-shaped 
doorways  in  which  there  evidently  had  been 
ingeniously  constructed  doors,  that  allowed  the 
air  to  come  in  and  yet  could  not  be  opened  from 
the  outside. 

And  over  against  these  remembrances  of  an 
otherwise  forgotten  age,  there  was  this  last 
development  of  modern  days,  this  station  of  the 
China  Inland  Mission,  with  as  so  often  now  a 
member  of  the  last  addition  to  the  Church 
Missionary  Society  attached  to  it  for  purposes 
of  study  and  economy!  Mr  Horsburgh's  party 
is  expected  to  live  upon  forty  pounds  a  year, 
and  to  have  an  ideal  before  it,  that  is  to  be 
accomplished  on  twenty  pounds  a  year.  But  this 
last  they  are  not  sure  yet  is  quite  practicable. 
People  who  know  say  it  could  be  done  at  Ta- 
chien-lu.  And  let  people,  who  think  missionaries 
come  to  China  for  what  they  can  get,  try  a 
summer  regimen  of  pork  and  chicken  by  way  of 


io8     IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

meat,  Chinese  sugar  that  has  to  be  washed  before 
it  can  be  used,  local  blue-green  salt  and  all  those 
other  delicacies,  that  are  to  be  had  for  forty 
pounds  a  year,  where  carriage  from  Shanghai  is 
about  thrice  as  expensive  as  from  England  to 
Shanghai.  And  let  those  who  think  it  is  under- 
taken from  a  love  of  travel  and  adventure  try  a 
four  years'  confinement  to  any  Chinese  city  of 
their  acquaintance,  for  the  same  two  young  men, 
who  started  the  China  Inland  Mission  there  four 
years  before,  were  still  stationed  there. 

Never  before  had  a  woman  in  European  dress 
walked  through  the  streets  of  Kiating,  but  only 
in  one  place  did  the  people  seek  to  annoy  us ; 
then  they  painted  a  cross  on  a  flight  of  steps, 
fancying  we  should  be  unable  to  walk  back  over 
it.  When  missionaries  first  came  there  the 
people  fancied  they  would  steal  their  children 
and  do  all  manner  of  dreadful  things,  so  they 
used  to  pin  crosses  on  to  their  children's  clothes, 
thinking  that  Christians  would  not  then  dare 
to  touch  them.  There  was  a  Roman  Catholic 
station  there  also  of  course,  and  one  of  the 
Fathers  said  when  he  first  came  to  Szechuan 
twenty-eight  years  before,  about  one  per  cent. — 
certainly  not  more  than  three  per  cent. — smoked 
opium.  He  estimated  that  about  a  quarter  of 
the  population  then  did.  But  this  was  the  very 


CHEAP  MISSIONARIES  109 

lowest  estimate  we  heard,  and  must,  one  would 
think,  be  under  the  mark.  He  seemed  to  think 
the  people  were  killing  themselves  as  fast  as  they 
could.  Certainly  anything  sicklier  looking  than 
the  population  we  encountered  during  the  eleven 
days'  land  journey  from  Chungking  to  Kiating  I 
hope  never  to  see.  In  some  places  it  was  posi- 
tively startling,  the  most  fertile  plenty  all  round, 
and  then  a  village,  or  small  town  full  of  men  of 
extraordinary  pallor,  sunken  chests  and  emaciated 
bodies,  or  rather  one  would  say  emaciated  ribs, 
for  there  seemed  to  be  no  bodies.  The  people, 
who  were  travelling  along  the  road  for  pleasure, 
as  it  were,  that  is  to  say,  not  as  beasts  of  burden 
carrying  heavy  loads,  mostly  had  with  them  a 
small  box,  that  I  took  at  first  for  a  new  kind  of 
Kodak,  rather  smaller  and  more  solid-looking 
than  what  one  usually  sees.  It  was  their  opium 
smoking  box.  The  children  looked  healthy,  and 
even  between  Shidzuoka  and  Nagoya  in  Japan 
the  crops  hardly  appeared  so  plentiful  as  in  this 
region,  until  we  came  to  the  great  salt  district, 
with  its  thousands  of  brine  wells  and  lofty 
gallows,  where  the  gas  found  on  the  spot  boils 
the  salt  and  lights  up  the  salt  works.  The  other 
wonder  of  the  road  was  the  hillside  cut  into  a 
colossal  head  and  shoulders  of  Buddha  just  before 
Yung-hsien.  It  is  so  freshly  gilt  that  it  does 


no     IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

not  look  as  antique  as  the  Kiating  Buddha,  with 
hanging  tufts  of  grass  for  eyebrows,  and  small 
shrubs  for  hair  on  the  top  of  the  head.  That 
near  Yung-hsien  has  the  most  claims  to  beauty 
and  is  in  a  sparkling  state  of  restoration. 

A  day's  journey  further  on  at  Suifu  there  was 
another  station  of  the  China  Inland  Mission, 
with  again  two  of  Mr  Horsburgh's  mission  study- 
ing Chinese.  This  time  the  China  Inland 
missionary  represented  also  a  wife  in  bed  and 
a  new-born  baby.  He  described  the  people  as 
friendly,  but  very  unwilling  to  hear  the  Gospel, 
having  but  the  day  before  torn  down  all  the 
placards  he  had  issued  with  the  name  of  Christ 
upon  them.  He  had  been  there  not  quite  a 
year,  had  a  good  Chinese  house  with  pleasant, 
light  rooms  for  studies,  as  also  for  a  school,  which 
was  very  well  attended.  He  had  two  shops 
turned  into  a  chapel  on  to  the  street  for  every- 
day use  and  further  back  had  a  good-sized  hall, 
which  he  said  was  generally  full  for  Sunday 
services.  Not  quite  a  day  further  on  we  came 
upon  another  China  Inland  Station,  in  an  ex- 
cellent though  not  so  well-lighted  house,  formerly 
an  official  residence,  with  a  large  garden  and 
open  space  behind,  giving  on  to  the  hills,  thus 
avoiding  all  necessity  for  going  through  the 
streets  to  get  to  them,  the  more  of  a  boon  as 


HEAD   OF    COLOSSAL  BUDDHA   AT    KIATING,   CUT   OUT  OF   CLIFF    150  FEET  HIGH- 
TUFTS  OF  GRASS   FOR    EYEBROWS  AND   MOUSTACHE,    BUSHES   FOR   HAIR. 
To  face  page  iio.J  [By  Mr  Olin  Cady. 


CHEAP  MISSIONARIES  in 

this  missionary  represented  a  wife  invalided  for 
the  present,  after  ten  years  in  China,  and  five 
little  children.  There  were  also  several  members 
of  Mr  Horsburgh's  mission  studying  there,  who 
had  proved  of  valuable  assistance  in  past  illness. 
This  station  after  two  years  and  a  half  of  work 
had  baptised  five  converts,  besides  numbering 
many  inquirers,  but  it  preferred  to  know  them 
for  a  year  at  least  as  inquirers  before  proceeding 
further.  Great  progress  has  been  made  in  all 
these  stations  since  our  visit,  and  already  the 
people  there  were  described  as  very  friendly  and 
willing  to  listen.  But  amongst  their  friends  they 
had  had  to  bury  eight  from  cholera  during  the 
past  summer.  They  laughed  at  the  idea  of  their 
not  being  sufficiently  well  fed,  and  certainly 
seemed  very  sufficiently  well  housed  though  only 
at  an  expense  of  sixteen  pounds  a  year,  which 
sum  it  must  be  remembered  covers  also  the  rent 
for  schools,  chapel,  reception-room,  etc.  As  to 
whether  the  place  was  healthy  or  not  they  seemed 
more  doubtful,  the  summer  had  been  so  unusually 
hot.  Certainly,  to  judge  from  appearance,  these 
two  last  mission  stations  were  admirably  housed 
and  quite  sufficiently  well  fed  and  clothed. 
Amongst  the  members  of  the  China  Inland 
Mission  there  are  some  of  good  independent 
means  and  brilliant  position  in  England.  There 


IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

are  others  from  a  very  lowly  station,  accustomed 
from  their  earliest  years  not  to  have  the  best  of 
everything  and  take  up  a  principal  position. 
Both  have  their  uses.  But  although  worked  with 
least  outlay  the  China  Inland  does  not  seem  the 
most  economical  mission,  using  up  its  missionaries 
too  fast,  and  depending  too  much  on  other 
missions  for  help  in  sickness.  The  great  educa- 
tional institutions  training  Chinese  themselves  to 
act  as  missionaries  must  certainly  in  the  end 
prove  the  most  economical  way  of  working ; 
Chinese  live  so  much  more  cheaply,  and  do  not 
suffer  from  the  climate  as  Europeans  do.  Roman 
Catholics,  who  have  been  established  for  cen- 
turies in  China,  have  long  ago  given  up  using 
foreigners  for  conversion,  considering  Chinese 
better  qualified  to  convert  their  own  people,  and 
only  using  foreigners  for  the  further  instruction 
of  the  faithful,  and  for  direction  and  organisation. 


CHAPTER  XI 

LIFE   ON    A    FARMSTEAD,    FIFTEEN    HUNDRED    MILES 
INSIDE    CHINA 


summer  we  were  living  in  Chungking 
in  the  far  west  of  China,  fifteen  hundred 
miles  from  the  sea,  five  hundred  miles  beyond 
the  reach  of  steamers  then  —  it  was  some  years 
after  that  the  first  steamboat  was  taken  to 
Chungking  by  my  husband  as  master  and  owner, 
he  and  I  the  only  Europeans  on  board  —  and 
against  its  becoming  too  hot  in  that  large  city, 
the  commercial  capital  of  Szechuan,  all  shut  in 
by  walls,  and  so  full  of  houses  as  not  to  have  an 
available  breathing  space  left  empty,  we  had 
rented  a  hillside  on  which  to  build  ourselves  a 
summer  cottage.  But  the  magistrate  had 
stopped  our  building  on  the  pretext  that  the 
country  people  were  so  much  opposed  to 
foreigners  he  dared  not  sanction  our  living 
amongst  them  ;  then  made  a  great  favour  of 
having  persuaded  a  certain  farmer  to  have  us  as 
tenants,  and  suggested  that,  if  we  went  out  to 
him  for  three  months,  perhaps  gradually  the 
people  might  become  accustomed  to  us. 

"3 


ii4     IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

It  was  very  hot  in  the  daytime,  and  all  day 
long  I  was  shut  up  in  the  one  farmhouse  sitting- 
room,  so  I  started  a  diary  for  much  the  same 
reason  probably  that  I  have  often  observed 
people  do  on  a  sea  voyage.  They  generally  do 
not  keep  it  up  till  the  end,  neither  did  I  ;  but  I 
noted  down  everything  I  could  observe  of 
interest,  as  long  as  I  wrote  in  it,  and  here  it  is, 
recalling  many  simple  pleasures  and  some  painful 
days. 

July  6,  1898.  After  all,  I  went  off  to  the 
farm  by  myself,  starting  at  ten,  and  only  getting 
there  after  twelve,  though  the  crossing  of  the 
Yangtze  River  was  rather  exciting  than  slow, 
there  being  no  freshet  on.  All  the  dreadful 
rocks,  that  formed  the  remarkable  little  harbour 
of  the  Dragon's  Gate  in  the  winter,  were  now 
quite  covered  with  water,  so  that  our  boat  went 
careering  over  them.  Afterwards  it  was  so  hot 
that  the  coolies  spent  a  long  time  eating  and 
resting  before  they  got  me  up  the  thousand  feet 
from  the  river  to  the  T'u  Shan  Temple,  on  the 
top  of  the  first  range  of  hills.  I  was  annoyed  to 
find  the  furniture  in  our  farm  not  yet  cleaned  and 
a  good  deal  of  smell  from  the  dirt,  in  spite  of  the 
many  men,  who  had  been  out  cleaning  it  for 
several  days ;  the  shrine  at  one  end  of  the  room, 
that  I  had  told  the  people  they  might  take  away, 


LIFE  ON  A  FARMSTEAD  115 

was  still  there.  When  I  remarked  on  this,  the 
cook  exclaimed  it  could  not  be  moved.  "Well 
then,  it  must  be  cleaned,"  I  said,  attacking  it  with 
a  feather  brush,  and  immediately  producing  a 
shower  of  dust.  The  coolies  all  cried  out  at 
once,  "You  must  not  touch  it!  We  cannot 
touch  it!"  "Call  the  woman  of  the  house,"  I 
said.  But  she  again  waved  deprecatory  hands 
and  cried,  "  I  cannot  touch  it,"  which  the  coolies 
all  echoed  in  chorus  :  "  She  cannot  touch  it !  A 
woman!"  Presently  the  farmer  appeared,  very 
obliging  but  very  grave.  It  seemed  that  he  only 
could  clean  it.  But  he  proceeded  to  do  so  with 
so  much  reverence  it  was  evident  the  accumula- 
tions of  dust  would  never  get  removed.  So  I 
rubbed,  and  brushed,  and  generally  knocked 
things  about,  for  other  people  to  put  together,  till 
gradually  the  whole  erection  came  somewhat  to 
pieces  amidst  showers  of  dirt.  "  The  Pusa 
(image)  cannot  like  dirt,"  I  continued  to  repeat. 
But  at  last  they  managed  to  convey  to  me  that  it 
was  not  a  shrine  with  a  Pusa,  but  the  Holy 
Place,  where  the  ancestral  tablets  were  kept. 
"  Oh,  the  ancestors  !  "  I  then  said.  "  Well,  they 
would  like  to  be  clean,"  on  which  both  the  farmer 
and  his  wife  seemed  greatly  amused,  especially 
the  latter,  who  quite  agreed,  but  would  not  touch 
anything.  "We  put  fresh  flowers  before  the 


n6     IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

pictures  of  our  ancestors,"  I  said.  On  which  the 
children  brandished  crackers  in  my  face,  to  show 
what  a  much  better  way  they  had  of  honouring 
their  dead.  Meanwhile  the  farmer  and  the  eldest 
son  cleaned  the  tablet,  the  vase  before  it  con- 
taining incense  sticks,  etc.,  etc.,  and  I  was 
delighted  to  find  one  coolie  could  now  really 
clean  the  outside  of  the  shrine,  and  all  the 
particularly  dirty  boards  on  the  top,  whilst  no  one 
objected  to  my  taking  all  the  musty  books  out  of 
the  cupboard  underneath,  drying  them  in  the  sun, 
dusting  them  and  then  putting  them  away  tidily 
in  the  end.  The  eldest  son  then  tore  off  the  old 
red  paper  strips,  and  proceeded  to  write  on  new 
red  papers,  "As  still  with  us,  though  above," 
which  was  stuck  up  above  the  ancestral  tablet,  a 
little  looking-glass  being  very  carefully  hung  in 
the  middle.  I  pleaded  to  have  it  washed  first. 
After  all  this  great  display  of  reverence  what  was 
my  surprise  to  find  that  we  were  now  quite  at 
liberty  to  place  our  stores  in  the  cupboard  under- 
neath! And  our  Boy  with  perfect  calm  stood 
two  commanding  -  looking  bottles  on  the  top, 
right  in  front  of  the  ancestral  tablet.  Nor  did 
anyone  seem  to  see  anything  amiss  in  the 
arrangement. 

They  are  busy  weaving  their  cotton,  and  we 
fell  asleep  to  the  sound  of  the  loom  in  the  next 


LIFE  ON  A  FARMSTEAD  117 

room,  and  heard  it  already  going  on  again  when 
we  awoke  in  the  morning. 

July  7.  Wore  my  Chinese  clothes  for  the  first 
time,  found  them  delightfully  cool,  and  decided  I 
would  wear  nothing  else  till  the  hot  weather  was 
over.  A  very  trying  day !  Thunderstorms,  and 
not  a  breath  of  air  even  on  the  top  of  our  hill  in 
the  second  and  higher  Range,  thirteen  hundred  feet 
above  the  river,  two  thousand  feet  above  the  sea. 

July  8.  They  were  busy  spinning  yarn  at  the 
farm  to-day,  and  all  the  concrete  threshing  floor 
outside  our  windows,  that  makes  such  a  good  place 
to  sit  out  on  in  the  moonlight,  was  taken  up  with 
yarn  stretched  on  long  frames.  I  found  the  cotton 
bandages  I  wore  last  year  with  straw  sandals  were 
not  comfortable,  so  the  farmer's  wife  offered  to 
bind  my  feet  for  me.  She  bound  them  as  she 
bound  her  own  poor  little  stunted  things,  only 
using  broader  bandages,  about  two  and  a  half 
yards  long,  as  my  feet  were  so  much  bigger,  and 
to  my  surprise  her  way  of  binding  the  feet  was 
not  only  tidy  but  most  comfortable,  supporting  the 
foot  just  where  it  needs  support. 

Went  up  the  hill ;  then  seeing  a  great  thunder- 
storm coming  on  across  the  hundred  miles  or 
so  of  country  we  see  from  there,  I  hurried  down 
and  sat  outside  without  changing,  watching  the 
rain  advance.  Alas !  I  had  on  my  cool  Chinese 


n8     IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

clothes,  offering  no  protection  against  the  change 
in  the  weather,  so  I  caught  a  severe  chill  round 
my  waist,  and  felt  no  energy  to  go  out  with  the 
farmer's  wife,  who  was  most  eager  and  excited 
about  it,  when  there  was  a  sharp  clap  like  the 
sudden  report  of  a  gun — just  over  our  heads— 
without  any  following  roll,  and  something  fell  in  a 
paddy  field  below.  A  crowd  of  people  collected, 
and  we  heard  afterwards  there  was  a  strong  smell 
of  sulphur  and  saw  the  stone  corner  of  a  wayside 
shrine,  which  was  knocked  off,  but  whatever  fell 
got  lost  in  the  soft  paddy  field. 

July  9.  High  fever  all  night,  and  aches  in  all 
my  bones!  I  was  carried  back  to  town  in  the 
evening  through  the  rain,  A.  sturdily  marching 
along  in  pyjamas,  raised  very  high,  though  not 
quite  as  high  as  the  coolies,  who  displayed  their 
very  well-shaped  legs  pretty  well  in  their  entirety. 
I  was  carefully  dressed  en  Europtenne  once  more. 
It  is  certainly  much  more  convenient,  as  well  as 
far  more  becoming. 

July  19.  Air  fresh  and  fragrant,  reminding  one 
of  haymaking  days.  Mistress  of  the  farm  flogged 
little  grandson,  because  he  had  a  sore  on  his  leg 
and  had  not  washed  it  properly.  She  does  her 
washing  of  clothes  in  the  most  delightful  fashion 
in  a  large  wooden  tray,  brought  out  and  stood  on 
forms  under  the  fine  walnut  tree,  that  shades  our 


LIFE  ON  A  FARMSTEAD  119 

threshing  floor.  She  washes  clothes  beautifully 
clean,  although  using  no  soap.  To-day  they  are 
sizing  the  yarn  with  rice-water,  drying  it,  after 
boiling,  in  the  very  powerful  sun.  As  we  wanted 
a  stable  for  our  pony,  and  also  disliked  the  smell 
of  the  Mao  Sze  and  pig  sty,  the  latter  as  a  rule  in 
Szechuan  placed  under  the  former,  they  are  ceding 
the  old  one  to  us  for  a  stable,  and  have  built 
themselves  a  new  one.  It  is  quite  palatial,  much 
the  most  carefully  plastered  place  about  the 
farm.  It  is  of  course  the  source  of  all  the  fertility 
we  see  around  us. 

The  eldest  daughter  came  out  to  spend  the  day. 
She  arrived  in  a  sedan  with  a  sad  tale.  Her 
husband  had  beaten  her.  He  keeps  a  small  shop 
for  selling  clothes-stuffs,  and,  as  far  as  I  could 
make  out,  she  had  ordered  new  clothes  of  a  tailor 
without  insisting  that  the  material  should  be  out 
of  her  husband's  shop.  So  when  the  bill  came  he 
refused  to  pay,  but  beat  her  instead.  We  took 
pony  and  chair  on  to  the  hills  behind,  but  though 
we  went  after  five,  the  sun's  slanting  rays  made 
me  feel  so  sick  that  we  just  lay  still  on  the  shady 
side  of  the  hill,  and  gazed  at  the  view,  particularly 
clear,  bathed  in  sunshine  as  it  was,  although  we 
looked  at  it  from  the  shade  of  our  limestone  range. 
The  high  mountain  in  the  distance,  round  which 
I  had  so  often  seen  the  thunderstorms  gather,  and 


120     IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

which  now  stands  out  quite  clear  with  table  top 
and  several  rows  of  precipices  shining  white  in 
the  sunshine,  turns  out  to  be  the  Chin  Fu  Shan, 
Golden  Buddha  Mountain,  three  days'  journey  off, 
and  to  which  two  sets  of  missionaries  have  just 
gone  seeking  for  a  sanatorium.  One  of  our  coolies, 
who  has  been  a  soldier,  says  he  went  there  once 
with  his  general  to  burn  incense,  but  when  he  was 
there  the  accommodation  in  the  temple  on  the  top 
was  much  too  bad  to  stay  there.  He  says  there 
are  Chinese  there,  but  that  there  is  also  a  tribe  of 
Miaotse  (Aborigines)  and  that  it  is  on  the  borders 
of  the  province  of  K  weichow.  The  country  people 
all  cluster  round  to  talk  to  our  men,  and  seem 
greatly  interested  to  tell  about  one  set  of  mission- 
aries, who  had  a  small  child  with  them  and  five 
coolies  carrying  loads,  nine  people  in  all.  We 
hope  they  will  find  a  shelter,  and  hear  that  the 
inns  along  the  way  are  good,  but  that  it  is  a  hot 
journey,  as  indeed  it  looks. 

In  the  evening  we  were  just  falling  asleep, 
sitting  outside  in  the  moonlight,  enjoying  the 
most  refreshing  breeze,  when  one  of  the  farm 
boys  came  up  to  A.  to  ask  again  when  he  would 
bring  out  his  foreign  gun.  The  boy  had  displayed 
the  greatest  interest  in  this  gun  all  day  long. 
And  presently  it  appeared  all  the  men  of  the 
farm  were  going  out  with  heavy  sticks  and  rough 


s! 
S 


*  l*  « 

''  »  ' 


LIFE  ON  A  FARMSTEAD  121 

spears  to  hunt  an  animal — what,  we  could  not 
make  out — that  stole  their  Indian  corn.  So  we 
went  too,  cook  and  coolies  and  all.  We  climbed 
up  and  up  to  the  very  top  of  the  cultivated  ground. 
And  there  the  men  proceeded  to  dig.  They  had 
stopped  up  one  burrow  by  day  with  stones  and 
earth,  but  they  said  there  were  three.  As  the 
digging  went  on,  another  man  appeared  with  one 
of  our  candles — given  by  the  cook  for  the  occa- 
sion— and  which  being  European  guttered  shock- 
ingly in  the  breeze.  Then  the  two  dogs  found  us 
out,  and  great  was  our  alarm  lest  the  long-haired 
terrier  should  be  taken  in  the  flickering  light  and 
shadow  for  the  animal  we  had  all  come  out  to 
kill,  and  pressing  were  the  men's  entreaties  to  our 
beautiful  black  pointer  to  come  and  point  out  the 
wild  beast,  or,  as  they  said,  dig  for  it.  But  Beau 
refused  to  be  in  the  least  interested,  and  rightly 
so,  for  it  seemed  what  we  had  all  come  out  to 
hunt  was  a  wild  boar,  and  now  it  appeared  he 
emphatically  was  not  at  home,  as  our  coolies  dug 
and  dug,  and  poked  their  spears  into  where  his 
nose  should  have  appeared.  So  the  peaceful 
beauty  of  the  moonless  sky  with  its  galaxy  of 
stars,  and  landscape  looking  perfectly  lovely,  now 
that  the  somewhat  ugly  foreground  of  paddy  fields 
was  veiled  by  night,  was  unsullied  by  slaughter. 
We  found  the  air  much  fresher  up  the  hill,  and 


122     IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

tried  to  call  the  stars  by  their  names,  then  came 
all  stumbling  down  the  steep  hillside  again.  The 
mistress  of  the  farm  regretted  much  she  had  not 
been  able  to  go  too,  but  when  all  the  men  go  out 
somebody  must  stop  at  home,  she  said.  It  seems 
now  that  this  very  well-to-do  farm,  where  they  are 
always  pressing  roasted  cobs  of  Indian  corn  upon 
us,  does  not  possess  even  one  Chinese  candle, 
their  artificial  illumination  being  confined  to  the 
flame  of  a  pith  wick  in  a  saucer  of  pea  oil. 

July  20.  The  beautiful  tiger-lily  the  farm 
children  brought  in  with  such  pride  about  a  fort- 
night ago,  saying  its  buds  would  open  in  water, 
and  coming  each  morning  to  boast  over  them,  is 
over  now.  So  is  an  orange  and  cream  lily  they 
brought  in  the  day  before  yesterday,  and  that  at 
once  made  the  tiger-lily  look  quite  faded.  The 
cook  tells  us  that  after  all  he  is  not  going  to 
marry  a  Szechuan  woman.  We  thought  it  was 
all  arranged,  and  had  lent  him  money  for  the 
wedding  festivities.  He  says  now,  as  soon  as  we 
can  spare  him,  he  wants  to  go  home  for  a  time  to 
his  own  province  of  Hupeh.  For,  as  he  says,  all 
the  women  here  smoke  tobacco,  and  many  smoke 
opium,  and  how  can  you  know  beforehand  ?  It 
is  true  they  are  cheap.  You  can  get  a  wife  for 
ten  taels  (about  £i,  ics.)  or  a  very  good  one  for 
twenty  taels.  But  then  suppose  you  had  paid 


LIFE  ON  A  FARMSTEAD  123 

your  money,  and  found  out  in  the  end  she  smoked, 
there  you  would  be  with  your  twenty  taels  gone  ! 
Now  in  Hupeh  he  could  know  all  about  the 
parentage  and  connections  of  the  girl  he  should 
choose.  Wise  man  !  evidently  convinced  of  the 
truth  of  heredity  without  a  Galton  to  teach  him. 
But  what  odd  people  these  Chinese  are  !  One  of 
our  cargo  boats  has  just  been  wrecked,  and  the 
head  of  the  counting-house  tells  A. :  "I  have  sent 
word  down  river  never  to  insure  shrimps  again. 
It  is  a  dreadful  cargo.  You  see  it  smells,  and  in 
this  way  the  porpoises  and  all  the  other  big  fishes 
find  out  what  it  is  and  make  a  disturbance  in  the 
water  trying  to  get  in  to  rescue  their  brethren  in 
captivity."  Even  the  Roman  Catholic  clerk  says, 
"  There  must  have  been  myriads  of  souls  in  that 
cargo  of  shrimps  that  has  been  wrecked."  Went 
for  a  delightful  walk  along  the  hills  to  the  south, 
walking  along  the  shady  side  among  the  fir  trees. 
A  little  bird  flew  from  almost  under  my  feet,  and 
I  found  its  nest  between  four  tall  stalks,  with  four 
spotted  eggs ;  begged  the  coolies  not  to  touch  it, 
and  had  the  satisfaction  on  passing  an  hour  later 
of  seeing  the  same  little  bird  fly  out.  A  lovely 
green  praying  mantis  came  into  our  room  to-day. 
But  the  moon  was  watery  at  night,  and  few  stars 
visible.  It  looks  as  if  it  were  working  up  for 
another  storm.  A  very  hot  day,  though  the  ther- 


124    IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

mometer  in  the  farm  did  not  rise  above  eighty- 
six,  but  then  the  lofty  room  with  thick,  thatched 
roof  keeps  out  a  good  deal  of  heat. 

July  21.  Several  visitors  to-day,  one  a 
married  daughter  of  the  farm  with  a  very  cross 
little  boy  of  three,  not  yet  weaned,  and  chiefly 
dressed  in  a  pinafore  worked  all  over  back  and 
front  in  cross  stitch  by  his  mother.  The  other  a 
young  woman,  elaborately  rouged,  with  pink  nails, 
her  hair  brushed  in  two  strands,  one  to  the  right, 
the  other  to  the  left  across  the  forehead,  thus 
crossing  in  the  middle  of  it  and  showing  no  part- 
ing, a  singularly  disfiguring  fashion.  She  had 
white  flowers  in  a  wreath  all  round  her  black 
hair.  A  pair  of  white  cotton  trousers  with  blue 
cotton  borders,  and  a  rather  long  white  jacket 
similarly  trimmed,  completed  her  toilette.  She 
was  too  smart  to  do  much.  But  the  daughter  of 
the  house  immediately  set  to  work  to  help  her 
mother  in  getting  out  of  a  sort  of  nettle  the  fibre 
used  for  making  grass  cloth,  and  worked  at  this 
pretty  well  all  day,  when  not  suckling  her  child. 
The  breaking  the  stalks,  without  breaking  the 
outside  skin,  made  the  peeling  this  skin  off  seem 
to  require  some  knack,  and  I  did  not  try  it.  But 
I  found  it  easy  enough  to  strip  the  skin  off  the 
fibre  when  I  had  the  proper  implements.  Taking 
a  small  iron  spud  with  sharp  edges  in  the  right 


LIFE  ON  A  FARMSTEAD  125 

hand,  and  inserting  the  thumb  of  the  right  hand 
into  a  roll  that  just  about  filled  up  the  spud  when 
placed  inside  it,  one  then  takes  the  skin  of  the 
tall  nettle  in  the  left  hand  and  draws  it  again  and 
again  between  the  sharp  spud  and  the  thumb 
covering,  till  the  fibres  are  quite  clean.  The  sky 
was  overcast,  so  that  it  was  quite  pleasant  sitting 
outside,  but  the  mistress  of  the  farm  would  not 
allow  me  to  become  an  adept,  showing  me  her 
hands  all  stained  with  the  nettle,  and  requesting 
me  to  keep  my  dress  carefully  clear  of  it  for  fear 
that  should  get  stained  too.  Then  they  all  talked 
about  me  in  their  local  Chinese,  saying  to  one 
another,  "  She  does  not  understand ! "  which, 
alas!  was  true.  Presently  a  man  came  round 
with  two  baskets  dangling  from  his  pole  all  full 
of  pop-corn,  some  of  it  made  up  into  cakes  with 
molasses,  but  most  of  it  in  parcels.  No  one 
showed  any  eagerness  to  buy,  not  even  the 
children.  I  tasted  one  of  the  cakes,  and  then 
presented  it  to  one  of  the  children,  celling  our 
Boy  to  buy  some  for  the  others.  But  this  which 
seemed  so  natural  to  me  was  an  unintelligible 
idea  to  them,  and  they  all  began  to  buy  for  them- 
selves and  presently  were  all  munching.  There 
was  some  complaint  about  the  price,  when  the 
seller  said  it  was  a  long  way  to  bring  the  cakes 
from  Chungking,  so  my  idea  that  they  looked  so 


126    IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

clean  because  made  in  some  clean,  healthy  farm 
house  near  by  fell  to  the  ground. 

In  the  afternoon  I  rode  our  beautiful  little 
Szechuan  pony  to  the  top  of  the  hill,  and  then 
told  the  old  man,  whom  we  have  engaged  to  take 
charge  of  him  while  here,  to  lead  him  away  to 
meet  A.  But  the  pony  took  charge  of  the  old 
man,  leading  him  a  perfect  dance  all  over  the 
mountain  top  after  nice  patches  of  grass,  indulg- 
ing in  rolls  between  whiles,  saddle  and  all.  The 
old  man  talked  to  him  a  great  deal,  as  if  he  fully 
expected  the  pony  to  listen  to  reason.  But  in  the 
end  I  had  to  exert  myself,  or  they  never  would 
have  got  down  the  hill  at  all.  They  had  hardly 
gone,  before  there  was  a  merry  neighing,  and 
there  appeared  round  the  mountain  side  a  most 
gaily-caparisoned  pony  with  high  red  Chinese 
saddle,  a  whole  collar  of  large  bells,  and  a  very 
large  red  tassel  hanging  over  his  neck.  A  man 
led  him,  and  a  man  followed  him,  and  presently 
appeared  the  young  man  from  the  grand  house, 
whose  large  garden  is  the  landmark  we  coast 
round  to  arrive  at  our  farm.  He  walked  along, 
fanning  himself,  but  at  once  made  for  me  to  ask 
endless  questions  as  to  whether  we  would  sell  our 
pony,  our  foreign  saddle,  or  dogs,  whether  we 
would  buy  his  pony,  and  when  we  would  go  to 
his  house  to  "  Skwa"  that  most  expressive  Chung- 


LIFE  ON  A  FARMSTEAD  127 

king  word  for  generally  enjoy  oneself.  His  great 
delight  was  again  and  again  to  ask  me  if  I  would 
sell  our  long-haired  terrier,  Jack,  what  the 
Chinese  call  a  lion  dog,  because  I  always  de- 
finitely answered  I  would  not.  But  apparently 
what  he  really  wanted  was  the  foreign  saddle.  He 
said  he  had  given  fifty  taels  (about  eight  pounds) 
for  his  pony,  which  was  from  Kweichow,  and 
wanted  to  know  what  we  wanted  for  ours.  At 
last  the  sun  was  so  near  setting  he  thought  it 
prudent  to  go  away,  as  he  said  it  was  sure  to  rain 
directly  the  sun  went  down.  But  instead  of  that 
it  turned  into  a  lovely,  clear  night  again.  It 
appears  now  the  weavers  in  the  next  room  are 
only  tenants  at  the  farm  like  ourselves.  They 
were  working  later  than  ever  last  night.  It  is 
very  tiresome,  as  we  cannot  sleep  for  their  weav- 
ing. They  never  leave  off.  I  shall  be  curious  to 
know  what  rent  they  pay.  We  by  arrangement 
of  the  magistrate  pay  six  pounds  for  our  two 
rooms  for  three  months — ten  times  as  much  as  a 
Chinese  family  would  pay  for  the  same  accom- 
modation. We  gave  up  one  room,  however,  to 
which  we  were  entitled,  the  farm  people  declaring 
they  with  their  large  family  would  have  to  move 
out  if  we  used  it,  and  now  we  find  they  were  all 
the  time  letting  this  other  room. 

July   22.   To-day  was  a   difficult  day  to  get 


128     IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

through,  for  A.  had  invited  to  dinner  the  sixteen 
elders  of  the  neighbouring  districts,  who  had 
called  on  him  before  we  moved  out,  bringing  a 
large  red  card  with  all  their  names  upon  it,  and 
a  congratulation  upon  our  change  of  residence. 
And  as  they  just  filled  two  tables,  leaving  no 
room  for  him  and  his  comprador,  he  had  invited 
six  Chungking  men  to  fill  the  third  table.  The 
best  dinner  Chungking  could  provide  had  been 
ordered,  at  a  charge  of  four  thousand  cash  (at 
present  exchange  about  ten  shillings)  per  table  of 
eight  people,  including  use  of  crockery.  Our 
men  began  coming  over  from  the  city  quite  early; 
they  decided  it  was  impossible  for  twenty-four 
people  to  dine  in  our  sitting-room,  two  tables 
must  be  set  outside,  notwithstanding  the  sun,  so 
sent  back  to  Chungking  for  our  courtyard  awning 
to  hang  from  the  walnut  tree  outside.  This  did 
not  arrive  till  about  one,  and  the  city  guests 
began  arriving  at  eleven.  First  came  the  banker 
in  a  long  gown  of  white  silk  with  a  little  gauze 
stripe  in  it.  When  he  took  this  off,  as  they  all 
did  to  eat,  he  appeared  in  a  short  jacket  of  stiff 
black  gauze  with  a  grey  stripe.  The  comprador 
was  in  a  long  gown  of  grey  pongee  silk.  The 
literary  man  and  A.  in  white  grasscloth  gowns. 
The  elders  almost  all  had  short  coats,  but  one  or 
two  had  new,  long  gowns  for  the  occasion,  and  all 


sl 


a 


5  o 

Q  S 
^   < 


* 


LIFE  ON  A  FARMSTEAD  129 

had  very  smart  silk  over-trousers.  They  looked 
a  most  respectable  set  of  men,  and  insisted  upon 
the  city  men  sitting  inside,  as  it  was  cooler,  and 
they  said  they  were  all  country  people,  accustomed 
to  sit  out  of  doors.  Then  the  city  gentlemen  sent 
me  a  request  to  dine  with  them,  as  there  was  a 
slight  difficulty  about  my  being  served  in  my 
bedroom.  However  I  declined,  as  I  thought 
they  might  like  to  strip  to  the  waist,  as  Chinese 
usually  do  in  summer.  But  it  being  in  the 
country  they  found  it  so  much  cooler,  they  did 
not  in  the  end  care  to  do  so.  I  think  dinner 
began  about  two,  and  at  last  I  got  some  dishes 
brought  me  which  seemed  very  good.  After 
dinner  I  took  two  photographs  of  the  party, 
which  greatly  delighted  the  elders.  And  they 
took  leave  apparently  in  a  most  enthusiastic  state 
of  mind,  thanking  profusely.  The  city  men  went 
away  together  at  a  quarter  to  five.  We  then 
went  to  the  top  of  our  hill,  sitting  as  usual  by  the 
foundations  of  our  unfinished  house.  I  rode  up 
on  an  English  side  saddle,  and  found  it  much 
more  tiring  than  astride.  Presently  appeared  the 
smart  pony,  and  the  young  man  from  the  grand 
house,  with  all  his  retinue.  A.  after  a  while  took 
him  back  to  our  farm  for  tea.  It  seems  he  is 
seventeen,  and  reading  for  his  Bachelor's  Ex- 
amination. He  looks  much  more  like  twenty- 


130     IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

four,  and  is  already  married.  He  begged  us  to 
go  and  Shwa  at  their  house  next  day.  The 
family  consists  of  the  widows  and  sons  of  a 
wealthy  retired  official. 

After  the  dinner  was  over,  all  our  coolies  and 
the  chair-coolies  of  the  guests  sat  down  at  once 
to  what  remained.  The  women  of  the  farm  had 
a  table  to  themselves,  and  also  their  portion  of 
the  feast,  with  which  they  seemed  delighted. 
After  they  had  all  finished,  one  of  our  coolies 
was  very  eager  for  me  to  satisfy  myself  that  no 
wine  was  left  in  the  large  jar  that  had  been 
brought  out.  This  I  quite  believed.  But  the 
tone  in  which  he  said  it  had  been  excellent  was 
worth  hearing.  The  feast  was  inaugurated  by 
about  five  minutes  of  crackers,  which  had  been 
hung  in  long  garlands  from  the  trees,  where  they 
looked  quite  pretty — like  strings  of  red  peppers — 
till  they  began  to  sputter  and  go  off.  We  had 
laid  in  a  good  stock,  and  besides  this  the  banker 
brought  out  another  supply  as  a  present.  I 
understand  that  in  accordance  with  custom  we 
presented  one  hundred  cash  (about  threepence) 
to  the  chair-coolies  of  each  of  our  guests,  who 
came  in  a  chair.  What  they  gave  to  our  servants 
I  do  not  know.  However,  all  the  Twansheo 
(elders)  walked,  and  to  the  head  man  among 
them  we  were  indebted  for  the  loan  of  extra 


LIFE  ON  A  FARMSTEAD  131 

tables  and  benches.  Our  farmer  is  one  of  the 
Twansheo.  We  played  chess  by  moonlight  in 
the  evening  to  the  great  delight  of  the  farm 
people,  who  could  not,  however,  understand  all 
our  pieces  being  able  to  cross  the  river,  i.e.,  the 
middle  of  the  board,  as  only  some  of  their  pieces 
can.  After  all  this  A.  had  mosquito  curtains 
hung  from  the  walnut  tree,  and  slept  on  a 
travelling  bed  outside. 

The  children  have  brought  me  fresh,  huge 
bunches  of  the  scarlet  dragon  flower.  It  turns 
out  it  is  called  dragon's  claws,  not  dragon  boat, 
from  the  flower's  likeness  to  claws.  It  is  all 
brilliant  scarlet,  calyx,  corolla,  stalk  and  all,  and 
looks  very  well  mixed  with  ferns  and  grasses. 
To-day  is  the  beginning  of  great  heat,  according 
to  the  Chinese  calendar,  but  the  thermometer 
was  between  seventy-eight  and  eighty-one  all  day 
here,  and  there  was  generally  a  light  breeze. 

July  23.  We  took  the  little  pony,  and  went 
along  the  hills  to  the  south,  by  a  delightful, 
shady  path.  Then  A.  insisted  on  going  down 
the  steep  mountain  road,  all  stone  steps,  to  see 
the  wayside  inn,  that  had  so  taken  my  fancy  from 
a  distance.  It  is  very  prettily  situated  with  two 
grand  Hoang  Ko  trees  (Ficus  Infectoria),  a  kind 
of  banyan  and  very  shady,  in  front  of  the  door, 
and  looking  on  to  tree-clad  hills  with  breezy 


132     IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

slopes  up  the  valley.  But  its  surroundings  were 
so  dirty  and  neglected  it  seemed  useless  to  re- 
commend it  to  Chungking  friends  needing  a 
change.  There  were  two  tolerable-sized  rooms 
thrown  into  one,  but  they  were  crowded  with 
straw  mattressed  beds  and  nothing  else,  and 
rather  dark,  looking  on  to  a  dirty  courtyard ;  of 
course  infinitely  better  than  the  accommodation 
we  often  get  in  travelling,  but  still  hardly  what 
one  would  leave  one's  own  house  for  just  for  a 
night  or  two.  We  both  slept  under  the  walnut 
tree,  but  there  was  no  breeze,  and  the  dogs 
barked  horribly. 

July  24.  A.  got  into  his  office  by  6  a.m. 
to-day.  After  he  had  left  I  dressed  and  went 
for  a  delightful  walk,  getting  back  by  6.30.  I 
went  towards  the  Fortress  of  Refuge  on  the  top 
of  the  highest  mountain  in  the  neighbourhood, 
two  thousand  five  hundred  feet  above  the  sea, 
that  is  such  a  striking  object  in  all  the  views  all 
round,  its  battlements  connecting  the  two  tops  of 
the  hill,  finally  linked  by  the  gateway,  through 
which  to-day  I  saw  the  sun  rising.  The  air  was 
so  fresh,  and  the  scene  in  its  wildness  so  re- 
minded me  of  the  Cumberland  Moors,  I  wondered 
why  one  complained  of  the  summer  here.  But 
the  thermometer  only  varied  from  eighty  to 
eighty-six  in  the  twenty-four  hours,  and  after  a 


LIFE  ON  A  FARMSTEAD  133 

whole  number  of  women  had  come  flocking  in 
to  see  me,  inviting  one  another  to  sit  down, 
looking  into  my  bedroom,  and  generally  making 
themselves  quite  at  home  whilst  ignoring  my 
feelings,  I  only  felt  equal  to  being  carried  up 
the  hill  in  the  evening  and  sitting  in  the  sedan 
chair  to  enjoy  the  breeze.  There  was  distant 
thunder.  And  it  looked  so  like  a  storm,  and 
seemed  so  defenceless  to  sleep  outside  by  myself, 
I  did  not  at  all  want  to  do  so.  But  there  were 
the  mosquito  curtains,  and  the  cook  began  pre- 
paring my  bed  underneath  as  a  matter  of  course. 
So  I  was  ashamed  to  say  I  was  afraid,  the  more 
so  as  there  were  three  dogs  to  give  me  warning 
if  anyone  came  near.  But  when  I  went  out  to 
get  into  bed  there  was  our  soldier  coolie,  not  only 
stretched  at  full  length  in  one  of  our  mountain 
chairs,  but  having  established  it  alongside  my 
bed.  "What  are  you  doing  there?"  I  asked. 
"  This  is  my  bed,"  he  replied.  "  I  always  sleep 
in  this  chair."  "  Why  is  it  not  in  its  usual 
place  ? "  "  There  are  so  many  mosquitoes  under 
the  eaves ! "  he  replied  with  cool  effrontery. 
"  Dreadful  lot  of  mosquitoes  to-night !  "  "  Well ! 
you  know  you  can't  sleep  there  near  my  bed. 
Just  take  that  chair  off  as  far  as  you  can." 
Which  he  did,  not  in  the  least  abashed. 

The  farmer's  wife  was   busy  chattering,  and 


134     IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

chopping  up  the  leaves  of  the  grass  cloth  plant 
for  the  pigs.  It  was  ten  o'clock,  and  as  they 
always  get  up  by  four,  I  thought  she  might  as 
well  go  to  bed,  and  let  me  sleep,  but  she  chopped 
and  chopped.  So  presently  I  thought  I  might 
as  well  watch  her  from  under  the  mosquito 
curtains,  and  had  a  heavenly  night  with  a  blanket 
over  me,  and  such  a  breeze,  till  towards  morning 
it  actually  blew  the  curtains  from  off  me.  Then 
a  man  passed  with  a  torch,  and  all  the  dogs 
barked  furiously.  Presently  the  farm  people  got 
up,  lit  their  fire,  and  the  men  came  outside  to 
wash  in  the  dawn.  Walnuts  began  to  fall  here 
and  there  from  the  tree  above  me.  The  wind 
blew  more  and  more,  and  I  wondered  what 
would  be  the  result  if  one  happened  to  fall  on 
my  eyes,  till  at  last  I  thought  it  prudent  to  go 
inside,  and  finish  up  with  two  more  hours  of 
undisturbed  sleep  in  the  fresh  morning  air. 

July  25.  A.  came  out  quite  late,  and  tells  me 
two  Swedish  missionaries  have  just  been  killed 
by  the  people  about  a  hundred  miles  from 
Hankow.  It  seems  placards  were  put  out  telling 
them  they  would  be  killed  on  a  certain  feast  day 
if  they  did  not  go  away.  But  they  could  not 
believe  it.  The  magistrate  asked  them  to  take 
refuge  in  his  yamen,  but  said  he  could  not 
restrain  the  people.  They  stayed  on  in  their 


LIFE  ON  A  FARMSTEAD  135 

house,  the  mob  chased  them  out,  and  finally 
killed  them.  We  do  not  know  how.  Hankow 
is  in  great  excitement. 

July  26.  A  cool  night  and  very  cool  morning. 
The  cook  declared  himself  very  ill,  one  of  the 
coolies  also  ill.  We  had  our  first  European 
guest  since  we  came  here,  June  29,  the  agent 
of  a  Scottish  Bible  Society.  I  felt  as  if  I  hardly 
knew  what  to  say  to  him  when  he  rode  up.  The 
young  man  from  the  Yuen  family  again  joined  us 
on  the  hill,  bringing  a  cousin  and  another  pony,  so 
there  were  four  ponies  altogether  there.  The  two 
young  men  came  back  uninvited  to  refreshment, 
and  like  two  boys  ate  up  every  one  of  our  cakes, 
trying  to  help  themselves  when  I  was  not  looking. 

July  27.  Cook  again  not  well.  A  cool  day! 
Thunderstorms  all  round  in  distance.  Went 
again  towards  the  Chai  (Fortress  of  Refuge)  and 
watched  the  thunderstorms,  indicating  distinctly 
the  relative  distance  of  the  different  ranges.  I 
estimate  we  see  seven  to  the  south,  one  even 
beyond  the — said  to  be  nine  thousand  feet  high 
— Golden  Buddha  Mountain,  and  three  to  the 
west.  The  sun  shone  silvery  through  the  clouds, 
and  a  large  lotus  pond  below  looked  like  a  silver 
pond,  the  dark,  large  lotus  leaves  standing  out 
finely  against  it,  and  looking  in  the  thickest  part 
as  if  they  were  mixed  with  silver  flowers. 


136    IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

Our  poor  black  pointer  pup  has  become 
nothing  but  skin  and  bone.  We  do  not  know 
what  is  the  matter  with  him,  but  are  trying  a 
Chinese  cure  of  liquorice.  The  long  -  haired 
terrier  was  washed  to-day,  and  the  soldier  coolie 
and  I  spent  some  hours  over  taking  animals  out 
of  him.  Between  each  pair  of  toes  he  had  at 
least  two  ticks,  between  some  three  or  four.  I 
spent  hours  over  him  every  day,  but  had  not 
looked  at  his  little  feathery  paws,  thinking  he 
would  be  sure  to  walk  lame  if  there  were  anything 
the  matter  with  them. 

July  28.  A.  got  off  early,  and  when  I  got  up 
at  seven  I  found  it  still  so  cool,  the  thermometer 
marking  only  seventy-nine,  I  thought  I  would 
take  a  few  minutes'  stroll  before  breakfast,  but 
the  air  is  so  moist  that  I  came  back  soaked  with 
perspiration  and  had  to  change  everything  and 
rub  myself  dry.  A  very  heavy  day!  Dark 
clouds  over  Chungking,  and  the  darkness  gradu- 
ally creeping  up  to  us  like  a  heat  mist.  Found 
the  little  pond,  into  which  the  spring  from  which 
we  get  our  water  falls,  full  of  frogs,  small,  very 
finely  shaped  and  bright  green.  Birds  flew  in 
and  out  of  the  sitting-room  to-day,  as  if  troubled 
by  the  weather.  Started  at  i  p.m.  for  Chung- 
king, through  a  luxuriance  of  vegetation,  sun- 
flowers dangling  their  leaves  wearily  amongst 


LIFE  ON  A  FARMSTEAD  137 

rice  in  ear,    Indian   corn,   millet,    French  beans, 
taro  and  lotus.     The  last  two,  banked  up  in  mud 
in  their  ponds,  alone  looked  as  if  not  in  want  of 
more  water  ;  some  lotus  were  already  being  pulled 
up  for  the  roots.     Found  the  river  much  risen, 
and  flowing  so  fast  I  was  not  surprised  there  was 
considerable  difficulty  about  getting  a  boat.     We 
had  to  wait  some  time,  send  some  way  to  look  for 
boats  and  then  only  one  big  boat  was  to  be  had. 
It  at  first  refused  to  take  us  but  at  last  consented 
for  a  hundred  and  eighty  cash,  three  times  the 
large  sum   we   usually   pay.     Coolies   pay   eight 
cash  a  head.     After  we  had  been  ten  minutes  in 
the  boat,  we  were  a  good  deal  further  down  river 
than  when  we  started,  the   towing  rope   having 
been  let  go  by  the  trackers,  lest  they  should  be 
dragged  into  the  stream  off.  a  steep  bank.     The 
cook  then  wanted  to  persuade  me  to  go  back. 
But  for  his   pressure   before    I    do   not   think   I 
should  ever  have  started.     I  did  not  like  to  go 
back  now,  and  a  great  deal  thanks  to  his  exer- 
tions we  got  to   the   other   side   at  last  in  five 
minutes  under  two  hours.     We  then  found  that 
another  boat  had  slipped  its  towline,  as  we  had, 
in  the  morning,  and  three  men  out  of  the  eight 
in  her  had  been  drowned,   and   A.  had  sent  a 
coolie  to  warn  me  riot  to  try  to  cross  the  river, 
as  it  was  so  dangerous.     But  owing  to  the  state 

K 


138     IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

of  the  water,  his  messenger  had  not  got  over  in 
time.  It  felt  quite  cold  crossing  the  river,  and 
people  say  this  sudden  rise  is  owing  to  the  melt- 
ing of  the  snow  in  Tibet.  Last  time  it  was 
because  of  rain  in  Yunnan. 

July  29.  Sitting  on  the  Shai  Tai,  or  drying 
place,  on  the  top  of  our  house  with  A.,  watching 
the  thunderstorms  moving  all  round — yet  none 
arriving — he  noticed  a  coolie,  one  of  the  calenders 
from  the  adjacent  dyer's  on  his  Shai  Tai  Ko- 
towing to  the  thunder!  Actually  bought  some 
grapes  at  the  door,  not  quite  ripe  yet,  but  very 
nearly  so,  and  in  fine  bunches.  Had  a  dish  of 
lotus  roots  shredded  and  sweetened  with  sugar 
for  dinner.  It  was  rather  nice,  and  seemed 
intended  to  be  eaten  with  chicken  stewed  with 
cucumbers,  ginger,  and  a  kind  of  cabbage — the 
soup  made  from  chicken  cooked  in  this  way  is 
perfectly  delicious.  The  mixture  seemed  curious, 
but  pleasing. 

July  31.  Meant  to  cross  yesterday,  but  the 
river  was  very  high.  Then  it  came  on  to  rain, 
and  in  the  end  our  man  servant  was  too  ill  to  go. 
Next  day  I  settled  to  start  with  only  the  cook 
and  water-coolie,  but  the  latter  was  so  ill  he  sent 
a  substitute.  The  Chinese  suffer  quite  as  much 
as,  if  not  more  than,  we  do  from  this  oppressive 
weather.  We  crossed  very  high  up,  the  water 


LIFE  ON  A  FARMSTEAD  139 

being  smoother  there,  banked  up  by  that  below. 
But  the  bridge  across  an  affluent,  that  used  to 
stand  so  high  up,  was  still  under  water,  only  the 
tops  of  the  stone  stanchions  rising  from  the 
parapet  being  visible  above  it.  It  felt  delightfully 
fresh  at  the  farm,  and  in  the  afternoon  we  went 
for  quite  a  long  ride,  and  saw  a  pond  of  lotus  out 
in  flower,  but  the  blossoms  were  quite  small, 
about  half  the  size  of  those  in  Japan. 

August  5.  The  last  few  days  we  have  had 
visitors,  and  my  time  has  been  too  much  taken 
up  for  more  than  admiring  the  exquisite  cloud 
effects  in  the  extensive  landscape  on  all  sides  of 
us,  as  the  thunderstorms  threatened  but  did  not 
arrive.  Yesterday,  however,  at  last  one  did,  and 
I  think  must  have  thoroughly  washed  out  even 
Chungking.  We  were  only  on  the  fringe  of  it, 
but  our  spring  is  replenished,  and  in  a  few  minutes 
the  thermometer  fell  from  eighty-five  to  seventy- 
seven.  A.  arrived  with  a  violent  attack  of 
lumbago,  which  seems  common  here,  so  we  only 
went  for  a  very  little  stroll,  and  wishing  to  sit  at 
a  view  point  with  a  fresh  breeze,  asked  a  cottage 
near  by  to  lend  us  a  form  to  sit  upon.  The  little 
boy  who  brought  it,  and  who  replied  with  all  the 
correct  polite  phrases  when  politely  addressed, 
asked  as  a  great  favour  if  we  would  buy  six  eggs 
of  them.  They  had  only  six.  Our  coolie  replied 


140     IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

at  once  we  could  not  think  of  buying  less  than 
ten  at  a  time,  but  we  insisted  on  buying  the  six 
eggs  of  the  little  man,  and  he  presently  appeared 
with     them,     and     was     apparently     too     much 
delighted  with  two  small  foreign  cakes  even   to 
recollect  his   manners.     The  storm  has  brought 
down  a  great  many  walnuts,  and  a  little  boy  of 
the  farm,  who  kept  me  awake  last  night  by  his 
groaning — he   has   a   horrible  skin  disease   over 
both   legs,  especially  under   the   knees — brought 
me   four    with   great    delight.     A    thunderstorm 
with  occasional  downpours  began  at  ten  and  went 
on  till  four.     Till  then  the  air  felt  heavy.     We 
went  for  a  ramble  among  the  fir  woods  to    the 
south.     Two  of  our  servants  asked  leave  to   go 
— as  the  one  said  in  Chinese  "to  reverence  the 
Divinity,"   as  the  other  in   English,   "to  a  four- 
man  tiffin  "  at  a  festival  in  a  temple  near  by,  to 
which  we  yesterday  evening  saw  a  man  stagger- 
ing along  under  a  heavy  load  of  rice.     Several 
country  people  returning  from  it  came  and   sat 
about  on   the   threshing  floor,   and   bright-faced, 
very  respectable-looking  women  tried  to  talk  to 
me.     Then,  with  that  want  of  delicacy  so  con- 
spicuous in  Chinese,  when  I  went  to  change  my 
dress   in   our   bedroom   came  to  the  window  to 
stare   in,    which    they   would   not    like   done    to 
themselves.      So    I    shut    the    blinds    with    in- 


LIFE  ON  A  FARMSTEAD  141 

dignation.  Scorpio,  Cassiopeia  and  the  Great 
Bear  conspicuous  in  the  evening,  but  the  gentle 
Szechuan  mist  seems  to  temper  the  brilliancy  of 
the  stars  here  generally,  as  it  mercifully  does  that 
of  the  sun. 

August  6.  A  crisp  autumnal  feeling  in  the 
air,  and  the  thermometer  actually  seventy-four 
when  we  got  up,  which  it  has  not  been  since 
July  3,  when  for  two  days  we  had  it  cool  here. 
It  was  last  seventy-four  in  Chungking  on  June 
21,  a  regular  rainy  day.  To-day,  with  fresh 
northerly  breeze,  bright  sunshine,  and  exquisite 
blue  sky  with  white  fleecy  summer  clouds,  we 
thought  we  could  not  be  better  off  than  at  our 
farm.  I  went  to  the  back  of  the  hill  before 
breakfast,  such  a  fresh,  delicious  breeze,  and  the 
Golden  Buddha  Mountain — now  said  to  be  from 
four  to  six  days'  journey  away — absolutely  clear  all 
along  its  flat  back,  with  only  one  or  two  white 
clouds  rising  from  behind  it,  and  threatening  to 
overshadow  it,  as  the  day  progresses.  The  farm 
people  are  unhusking  their  Indian  corn,  so  now 
no  more  roasted  or  baked  cobs,  but  baba  instead, 
as  they  call  the  hot  cakes  made  of  the  flour, 
which  we  so  enjoyed  on  the  way  to  Tibet  last 
year.  The  pink  crape  myrtle  is  over,  and 
now  we  have  only  white  hibiscus  and  ferns,  and 
one  red  rose  on  the  table.  The  village  school- 


142    IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

master  paid  us  several  visits,  and  with  him  a 
young  man  in  a  shabby,  long  black  gown,  whom 
I  took  for  his  assistant,  but  who  said  his  family 
owned  the  Chai,  the  Refuge  Fortress,  that 
crowns  and  connects  the  two  tops  of  the  highest 
hill  in  these  parts.  He  says  they  paid  twenty 
thousand  taels  to  build  it  a  hundred  and  fifty 
years  ago  and  would  sell  it  now  for  eighty 
thousand.  There  are  rice  fields  attached  bring- 
ing in  six  hundred  taels  a  year.  His  home  is 
behind  and  below  the  Chai,  and  he  says  a 
hundred  people  live  in  it.  Other  people  tell  us 
it  is  a  very  handsome  house  with  a  fine  garden, 
so  we  were  glad  he  asked  us  to  go  there.  The 
schoolmaster  seemed  a  very  merry  sort  of 
character.  To-day  was  the  great  day  for  all  the 
seeds,  baskets  full  of  Indian  corn  being  unhusked, 
and  red  and  black  peas  being  first  spread  in  the 
sun,  and  pitchforked  about  as  if  to  make  hay,  and 
then  gathered  into  baskets.  In  the  evening 
went  up  the  hill,  and  found  the  view  again 
beautifully  clear.  A  number  of  big  birds  were 
going  to  roost  in  a  grove  of  firs.  They  looked 
like  pheasants,  but  the  coolies  said  one  could  not 
eat  them,  so  I  think  they  must  have  been  jays. 
They  seemed  very  restless,  and  were  flying 
about  a  good  deal. 

August   7.     Went  into  Chungking  to-day  so 


LIFE  ON  A  FARMSTEAD  143 

as  to  read  the  incoming  mail  before  the  outgoing 
mail  left.  Ninety-two  there  felt  very  hot  after 
seventy-two  at  the  farm  in  the  morning,  and  the 
mail  was  as  usual  here  a  disappointment.  Not  as 
many  letters  as  we  expected,  and  not  one  single 
newspaper.  It  will  be  four  weeks  to-morrow 
since  one  has  reached  us,  although  a  mail  ought 
to  arrive  every  five  days.  The  head  of  the 
counting-house  invited  me  to  a  dinner  his  wife 
and  the  comprador's  wife  were  giving  at  the 
Roman  Catholic  Guild  garden.  But  I  had  to 
come  back  to  the  farm.  The  coolies  turned  cross 
and  lazy,  and  two  substitutes  had  to  be  got  at  the 
last  moment.  Turned  aside  on  the  way  back  to 
see  some  fields  of  ginger  we  saw,  when  first 
planted,  near  by  the  great  monastery  with  the 
pagoda.  It  seems  to  be  a  sort  of  cane,  and  is 
only  about  a  foot  high  yet.  I  am  told  it  should 
grow  to  two  feet.  It  is  very  carefully  planted  in 
perfectly  straight  rows,  with  five-inch  trenches 
between  the  rows  kept  apparently  fall  of  mud, 
but  much  lower  than  the  plant.  An  odour  of 
ginger  hung  over  it  all,  but  I  could  not  detect 
any  ginger  taste  in  the  leaf.  Got  home  in  the 
dark,  seeing  one  or  two  glow-worms  on  the  way. 

August  8.  Called  on  the  Yuen  family.  Every- 
one was  in  Chungking  but  the  great-grandmother 
of  our  young  friend  of  the  pony.  She  told  us  she 


144    IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

was  seventy-seven  ;  she  seemed  to  see  and  hear 
quite  well,  and  spoke  refreshingly  distinctly,  but 
said  she  could  not  accompany  us  round  the  garden 
as  she  could  not  walk,  and  that  there  were  no 
flowers  there  now.  The  camellia  trees  with  such 
magnificent  flowers,  when  we  were  here  before, 
now  many  of  them  had  white  and  variegated 
leaves.  What  I  had  taken  for  red  leaves  from 
outside  turned  out  to  be  crape  myrtle  looking  like 
a  red  flame,  and  there  was  one  gardenia  and  one 
flower  of  a  coral  colour,  whose  name  I  do  not 
know,  though  I  have  often  seen  it  before.  The 
servants  picked  some  orchids  for  me,  which 
though  not  very  pretty  I  was  delighted  to  see,  as 
I  had  long  been  watching  the  leaves,  wondering 
what  they  would  develop  into.  Our  coolies  were 
chiefly  interested  in  a  big  coffin  which  was  being 
got  ready  for  the  old  lady.  A.  wanted  me  to  tell 
her  I  had  seen  it,  and  compliment  her  upon  it,  as 
is  the  etiquette  in  China,  but  I  really  could  not. 
She  had  quite  the  manners,  and  I  thought  the 
hands,  of  a  lady,  but  was  dressed  like  any  poor 
woman.  The  servants  examined  and  admired 
every  bit  of  my  Chinese  dress,  more  than  I  have 
ever  been  examined  in  European  dress.  They 
evidently  like  it  much  better  and  think  much 
more  of  it.  There  was  a  water-colour  picture  of 
one  of  the  ancestors  in  grand  official  dress  hang- 


STORAGE  PLACE  FOR  COFFINS,  SHOWING  THE   GREAT  THICKNESS  OF  THE  WOOD. 

[By  Mrs  Cecil  Holiday. 


DRAGON    BRAYING    FOR   THE   SUN,    PAINTED   ON    YAMEN    WALLS. 

[To  face  page  144. 


LIFE  ON  A  FARMSTEAD  145 

ing  as  a  Kakemono  on  the  wall.  It  looked  as  if 
it  were  an  excellent  likeness,  and  the  face  stood 
out,  so  that  one  could  hardly  believe  it  was  not  in 
relief. 

Our  threshing-floor  was  again  spread  with 
peas  to-day,  and  beautiful  cobs  of  Indian  corn, 
which  were  raked  about  preparatory  to  unhusking 
them,  like  so  much  hay.  The  farmer  has  been 
away  carrying  on  a  coal  business  at  the  biggest 
mine  near  here,  buying  the  coal  on  the  spot,  and 
retailing  it  in  Chungking.  If  he  had  not  such 
an  energetic  wife  he  would  have  enough  on  his 
hands.  As  it  is  she  manages  the  farm  and  the 
children.  She  will  not  consent  to  the  little  boy 
with  the  bad  legs  going  into  the  mission  hospital, 
declaring  he  is  a  very  difficult  child  to  manage, 
and  would  be  sure  to  cry  and  be  naughty  there. 
Besides,  who  would  give  him  his  food  ?  Probably 
it  is  incredible  to  her  that  the  hospital  would,  and 
if  she  did  believe  it,  she  would  at  once  suspect 
some  deep  design  underlying  such  open-handed- 
ness,  as  of  course  there  is ;  i.e.,  alienating  the 
patients  from  the  faith  of  their  fathers,  and  pre- 
disposing them  to  another  in  its  place,  which 
probably  this  satisfied  -  with  -  things  -  as  -  they  -  are 
woman,  like  most  Chinese  women,  would  regard 
as  the  most  dreadful  thing.  The  poor  little  fellow 
cannot  be  cured  without  going  into  a  hospital, 


146    IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

however,  as  he  must  be  kept  perfectly  quiet,  so 
probably  he  will  go  on  moaning  at  nights,  accord- 
ing as  the  weather  affects  his  legs.  Just  now  he 
is  better. 

August  15.  Since  I  last  wrote  in  my  diary 
a  very  unfortunate  accident  has  occurred.  Our 
little  dog's  barking  had  annoyed  us  so  much  that 
in  order  to  get  some  sleep  at  night  I  shut  him  up 
in  one  basket  inside  another  on  the  Qth.  That 
night  it  was  rainy  and  so  chilly  we  shut  the  front 
door  for  almost  the  first  time  since  we  have  been 
here.  But  the  next  night,  as  it  was  very  close  as 
well  as  rainy,  I  left  the  front  door  open,  and  yet 
shut  up  poor  little  Jack  as  before.  Next  morning 
as  A.  woke  he  said,  "It  is  really  no  use  sleeping 
out  here.  I  feel  as  heavy  as  if  I  were  going  to 
bed  instead  of  getting  up."  But  my  attention  was 
distracted  from  him  by  seeing  my  clothes,  which 
I  had  left  lying  tidily  on  the  top  of  one  of  our 
travelling  baskets,  all  in  confusion  on  the  earth 
floor,  and  some  of  the  contents  of  the  basket  lying 
in  the  dirt  too.  Then  I  saw  some  of  the  clothes 
out  of  the  cupboard  on  the  floor,  and  on  the 
window-sill  the  brush  and  comb,  which  I  had  left 
well  inside  the  window  now  outside  the  wooden 
bars,  and  the  candlestick  also  outside  the  bars, 
and  as  it  struck  me  the  candle  much  shorter  than 
I  had  left  it.  Then  on  the  other  side  of  the  bed 


LIFE  ON  A  FARMSTEAD  147 

there  were  my  dark  glasses  and  belt  also  lying  on 
the  floor,  and  underneath  the  bed,  exactly  under- 
neath where  I  had  been  sleeping,  the  tray,  which 
had  been  taken  out  of  one  of  the  baskets  and 
evidently  put  there  during  the  night.  Quite 
bewildered,  not  sure  if  I  were  dreaming  or  not, 
I  looked  into  the  sitting-room  to  see  the  lamp 
where  I  had  left  it,  but  the  shade  and  chimney 
both  by  the  side  of  it,  instead  of  on  it,  as  if  some- 
one had  lighted  that  too.  A  very  little  further 
investigation  showed  both  our  watches  gone,  A.'s 
compass,  both  our  eye-glasses,  all  the  spoons  and 
forks,  and  sheets  and  tablecloths  we  had  brought 
out  with  us,  also  all  A.'s  Chinese  clothes,  and  a 
good  many  of  my  European  clothes.  But  one  of 
the  coolies  looking  about  presently  brought  back 
all  the  latter,  together  with  towels  and  napkins, 
thrown  down  into  some  Indian  corn  hard  by  and 
soaked  with  rain.  They  were  evidently  all  alike 
regarded  as  worthless,  the  material  being  cut 
about  too  much  for  Chinese  use.  The  behaviour 
of  our  little  dog  was  very  peculiar.  He  did  not 
bound  out  of  his  basket  as  usual,  but  sat  quite 
stupidly,  letting  all  the  people  of  the  farm  crowd 
into  the  room,  and  talk  and  look  about,  whereas 
generally  he  has  to  be  held  even  if  the  farmer's 
wife  comes  in,  so  indignant  is  he  at  anyone  but 
our  own  servants  coming  amongst  our  things. 


148    IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

He  appeared  very  sleepy,  and  my  impression  was 
at  once  he  had  been  drugged.  The  farmer,  as 
one  of  the  guardians  of  order  in  the  district,  went 
off  to  report  the  occurrence.  And  presently 
arrived  a  local  yamen  runner  (tipstaff)  to  hear 
the  story,  and  take  note  of  everything,  which, 
however,  he  did  not  seem  to  do,  but  just  sat 
about  a  little,  and  then  went  away.  Some  hours 
afterwards  arrived  three  men  in  chairs  from  the 
magistrate's  yamen  with  a  great  following.  One 
of  the  oddest  things  to  me  was  how  quiet  every- 
one was  !  No  exclamations  nor  lamentations  ! 
No  attempt  on  the  part  of  the  farm  people  to 
clear  themselves  from  suspicion  !  These  men  did 
take  note  of  everything,  and  especially  wanted  a 
careful  list  and  description  of  the  things  stolen, 
that  they  might  search  the  pawnshops.  Soon 
after  that  we  went  into  town,  and  as  it  rained 
I  did  not  come  out  again  till  yesterday,  when 
another  accident  occurred.  Our  little  pony  had 
grown  so  fresh  by  itself  out  here,  it  set  off  to 
gallop  up  the  hill  at  the  back  with  me,  actually 
kicking  up  its  heels  with  pleasure  at  being  out 
again,  in  spite  of  the  steepness.  I  therefore  rode 
it  quite  to  the  top  of  a  mountain  we  had  not 
been  up  before,  where  we  found  the  farm  children 
gathering  what  looked  like  the  smallest  and  most 
gnarled  of  crab  apples,  but  which  they  get  off  a 


LIFE  ON  A  FARMSTEAD  149 

bush  that  grows  along  the  ground.  They  were 
munching  them  with  great  satisfaction,  and  as 
usual  eager  to  offer  me  some,  but  I  could  detect 
no  flavour  at  all.  I  got  off,  however,  to  enjoy  the 
view  and  specially  red  sunset,  then  gave  the  pony 
to  our  old  man  to  lead  down  the  hill,  intending  to 
mount  him  again  presently,  and  go  for  a  little 
further  ride  along  the  road.  But  the  pony  said 
to  itself,  "  That  is  not  the  nearest  way  home. 
You  mistake,"  twitched  his  head  loose  from  the 
old  man,  kicked  up  his  heels,  and  went  careering 
along  the  hillside.  Very  pretty  the  little  thing — 
1 1  hands  4,  and  perfectly  proportioned — looked 
doing  so,  and  fortunately  there  were  no  worse 
consequences  than  a  broken  bridle.  As  we  have 
another  to  replace  that,  till  it  is  mended,  that  does 
not  so  much  matter.  But  I  have  never  now  any 
notion  what  o'clock  it  is  without  a  watch,  and  our 
supply  of  tablecloths  also  seems  sadly  short.  And 
though  last  year  travelling  for  months  without  a 
looking-glass,  yet  I  am  vexed  to  miss  the  con- 
venient hand-glass  out  of  my  travelling-bag. 
And  now  I  find  the  thieves  did  not  throw  my 
belt  on  the  floor  till  they  had  wrenched  the 
buckle  off.  A.  says  Chinese  thieves  are  sup- 
posed to  burn  something  to  make  one  sleep. 
Without  something  of  the  kind  it  is  incredible 
how  we  could  have  slept  through  the  much  rum- 


150    IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

maging  of  two  baskets,  and  a  cupboard,  also  a 
drawer,  and  a  box  being  opened.  The  latter  had 
one  of  my  slippers  stuck  in  it  to  make  it  shut 
noiselessly.  Some  of  the  things  belonging  to 
the  farm  people  were  taken  also,  in  especial  two 
candlesticks,  and  two  straw  hats ;  but  they  made 
strangely  little  fuss  about  them.  I  have  forgotten 
to  mention  that  their  dog,  which  generally  sleeps 
outside  and  barks,  was  shut  up  that  night  also 
because  of  the  rain.  But  they  say  it  did  bark, 
and  one  of  them  got  up  to  see  what  was  the 
matter  and  saw  nothing.  Our  other  dog  was 
sleeping  in  the  kitchen  at  the  back  on  this  par- 
ticular night,  also  on  account  of  the  rain.  This 
morning  I  went  for  quite  a  ride  before  breakfast, 
determined  to  take  it  out  of  the  pony  and  myself. 
But  there  was  very  little  breeze  even  on  the  tops 
of  the  hills,  and  the  air  felt  heavy,  as  if  another 
thunderstorm  were  under  way.  They  are  pulling 
up  the  Indian  corn  near  the  house,  and  already 
rows  of  well-grown  pepper  plant  stand  revealed, 
and  in  other  places  taro. 

August  1 6.  Sunflowers  everywhere,  but  by  no 
means  generally  looking  east.  To-day  the  air  is  all 
sweet  with  Kwei-hoa  flower  (plea  Fragrans)  and 
there  is  a  branch  of  it  in  our  room,  also  a  lovely 
breeze.  Yesterday  all  the  air  round  the  house 
was  heavy  with  the  smell  of  the  three  cesspools, 


LIFE  ON  A  FARMSTEAD  151 

on  which  the  fertility  of  this  light  rocky  soil 
depends,  but  which  one  often  wishes  further. 
Walnuts  were  falling  in  showers.  I  slept  outside 
again  last  night,  but  there  was  not  a  breath  of 
air ;  then  the  dogs  barked  dreadfully,  the  cicadas 
shrilled  and  shrieked  like  policemen's  rattles,  and 
the  sheet  lightning  seemed  continuous.  I  think 
I  ought  to  have  arranged  from  the  first  to  mark 
in  my  diary  any  day  on  which  there  was  neither 
lightning  nor  thunder — but  I  doubt  if  there  has 
been  one — as  also  when  the  children  at  the  farm 
were  not  one  or  other  beaten.  To-day  the 
little  boy  screamed  so,  I  went  out  to  see  what  he 
was  being  beaten  with,  as  I  one  day  saw  his 
mother  chasing  and  threatening  him  with  a  large 
log,  such  as  one  puts  on  the  fire.  But  to-day  it 
was  only  a  decent-sized  stick.  The  whacks, 
however,  sounded  serious,  and  I  was  glad  to  see 
his  father  interceding  for  him.  Very  red  sunsets 
both  the  last  nights  !  The  pony  again  nearly  ran 
away  from  the  man  leading  him  yesterday. 
Having  tasted  the  delights  of  scampering  loose 
once,  he  wants  to  repeat  them  apparently,  so  I 
took  him  out  for  a  ride  again  this  morning.  The 
most  amusing  thing  is  to  see  him  roll,  when  he 
comes  in,  directly  the  saddle  is  taken  off.  These 
small  Western  ponies  enjoy  it,  as  children  do. 
Our  pony  looks  very  much  like  a  'baby — but  for 


152    IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

its  very  serious,  intelligent  face — lying  down  on 
its  fern  bed  at  night.  It  looks  such  an  absurdly 
small  thing  to  ride  then.  But  it  can  do  its  thirty 
miles  a  day  with  ease,  carrying  weight  too.  The 
children  and  farm  people  have  been  munching 
millet  stalks  lately  ;  these  seem  to  me  like  a  very 
inferior  kind  of  sugar  cane,  with  the  one  advantage 
of  being  much  softer.  They  have  picked  all  their 
grapes  quite  hard,  as  the  leaves  of  the  varnish 
tree,  on  which  it  has  twined  itself,  are  too  thick 
for  them  to  ripen,  they  say.  But  I  doubt  if  they 
know  the  difference  between  ripe  and  unripe 
fruit.  For  they  always  gather  it  unripe.  And 
they  seem  quite  to  enjoy  these  grapes,  with  the 
enjoyment  only  heightened  by  seeing  my  wry 
face,  when  they  persuade  me  to  taste  one. 

August  17.  Last  night  everyone  was  requisi- 
tioned to  strip  the  Indian  corn  off  the  cobs,  as 
they  do  not  hang  them  up  here  to  dry  in  the 
fashion  we  found  so  picturesque  between  Fulin 
and  Yacheo  last  year,  when  the  villages  were  all 
dressed  with  them,  golden  and  red.  I  have  at 
last  found  out  why  they  grow  the  hibiscus,  whose 
delicate  white  blossoms  are  just  now  in  perfection. 
It  is  to  make  a  cooling  tisane,  for  which  purpose 
they  strip  off  the  green  calyx,  and  split  the  flower 
open  to  get  out  the  stamens,  etc.  A  sunflower 
near  the  house  is  actually  over  twelve  feet  high. 


LIFE  ON  A  FARMSTEAD  153 

The  thermometer  was  eighty-two  early  this  morn- 
ing, hotter  than  it  has  been  for  a  long  while,  but 
it  does  not  feel  so  hot  from  having  a  fresh  breeze. 
We  slept  outside  again,  undismayed  by  thoughts 
of  walnuts  falling  on  our  heads.  They  have  no 
idea  of  shaking  the  tree,  but  just  pick  up  what 
falls.  In  this  way,  however,  I  annexed  about 
twenty  yesterday  to  send  in  to  friends  in  town, 
who  have  a  difficulty  about  getting  fresh  walnuts. 
I  have  only  been  hit  yet  once,  though  we  are 
always  sitting  and  sleeping  under  the  tree,  and 
that  was  on  the  arm,  where  it  did  not  matter. 
One  of  the  married  daughters  has  been  making 
sandals  for  A.  and  me,  soles  and  all,  they  are 
quite  a  success !  She  came  to  discuss  a  nightdress 
bag,  which  I  want  worked  in  cross  stitch  as 
elaborately  as  her  little  boy's  pinafore.  She  says 
it  will  take  her  a  month,  and  asks  a  thousand 
cash  (three  shillings).  But  I  know  that  is  because 
I  paid  a  thousand  cash  for  one  our  tailor  got 
worked  for  me.  So  I  offer  her  six  hundred  cash, 
a  friend  of  mine  having  had  one  worked  for  four 
hundred  cash,  but  I  think  probably  less  covered 
with  work  than  I  want  mine. 

August  1 9.  The  cook  actually  gave  us  hibiscus 
soup  yesterday,  by  way  of  a  cooler.  The  flavour 
was  rather  agreeable.  Yesterday  was  a  very  hot 
day,  and  the  head  of  the  counting-house  sent  out 


154     IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

word  to  A.  he  had  better  not  go  in  before  Monday, 
it  was  so  hot,  probably  no  one  would  do  any 
business  in  such  weather.  Even  here  at  the  farm 
our  own  servants  were  all  stripped  to  the  waist, 
except  the  Boy,  of  course,  and  have  now  given 
up  bundling  on  something  to  appear  before  me. 
The  evening  before,  when  we  came  in  from  our 
walk,  we  found  the  two  young  men  from  the 
Yuen  family  sitting  round  a  table  with  the  people 
of  the  farm,  drinking  Chinese  spirits  neat.  They 
had  brought  me  some  flowers,  and  wanted  A.  to 
show  them  his  typewriter,  and  were  very  pressing 
that  we  should  go  to  their  house  to-day,  as  they 
were  over  in  Chungking  when  we  went  before. 
So  we  went  some  time  after  five.  First  pause 
outside  the  gate,  whilst  A.  put  on  a  long  gown,  he 
having  ridden.  Then  further  pause,  whilst  the 
servants  put  on  their  clothes.  On  going  inside 
we  found  a  number  of  paper  horses,  chairs  and 
attendants,  and  a  Taoist  priest,  chanting  all  by 
himself  in  the  entrance  hall,  all  being  hung  round 
with  pictures  of  ancestors.  It  was  the  anniversary 
of  the  grandfather's  or  great-grandfather's  birthday. 
He  died  eight  years  ago,  aged  eighty-three.  One 
of  the  young  men  received  us,  but  not  our  number- 
five  young-gentleman,  who  was  out  riding.  Then 
came  in  a  number  of  women.  They  did  not  bow 
to  me  nor  ask  me  to  sit  down,  and  were  dressed 


LIFE  ON  A  FARMSTEAD  155 

quite  commonly,  just  in  long  jackets  and  trousers  of 
the  commonest  materials.  So  it  did  not  occur  to  me 
they  were  the  ladies  of  the  house.  But  the  young 
man,  who  was  talking  to  A.  on  the  other  side  of 
the  great  entrance  hall,  now  came  to  the  women's 
side  and  introduced  them.  One  was  his  mother  ; 
she,  I  gathered,  was  the  principal  lady  who  enter- 
tained us  the  first  time  we  were  there.  One  was 
number-five's  mother.  Then  there  was  his  sister 
and  his  wife,  and  possibly  some  more,  whom  I 
confused  with  the  servants.  Number-five's  mother 
was  put  forward  to  entertain  me,  a  tall,  thin 
woman,  not  at  all  like  her  stout  son,  of  genial, 
honest,  broad  face.  But  she  had  a  bright  counten- 
ance. Walking  about  a  little  I  asked  the  ladies' 
leave  to  look  into  an  adjoining  bedroom,  so  all 
went  in,  and  they  served  me  with  tea  and  sponge 
cakes  there.  They  examined  my  clothes,  lifting  up 
my  petticoat,  etc.,  just  as  unceremoniously  as  poor 
women  do.  Whilst  I  was  talking  to  her  mother  I 
felt  number-five's  sister  fingering  the  plaits  on  my 
dress  at  the  back,  quite  without  any  apology.  As 
far  as  I  could  make  out,  number-five's  mother  told 
me  she  got  up  at  ten,  and  went  to  bed  at  ten,  and 
did  nothing  all  day  except  smoke  and  shwa,  that  is, 
"amuse  herself."  She  could  not  work,  she  said, 
nor  cook,  and  did  not  read.  I  did  not  ascertain 
whether  she  could  not.  The  two  young  girls  read, 


156    IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

she  said.     When  we  came  out  again  number-five 
had  come  in.     He  had  been  thrown  from  his  pony. 
He  and  the  other  young  man  led  the  way  to  the 
flower  garden.     The  ladies  followed  through  two 
courtyards  on  their  tiny  feet  with  difficulty,  then 
declined  coming  further.     We  passed  the  coffin  of 
the  old  lady,  who  had  also  come  in  later  to  receive 
us,  but  from  another  side,  and  stood  apart  by  her- 
self all  the  time.     They  laughingly  said  it  was  hers, 
and  one  of  them  stretched  herself  back  to  show 
how  the  old  lady  would  lie  stretched  out  in  it. 
There  were  some  ten  or  more  paper  boxes,  full  of 
paper  cash,  to  be  sent  after  the  old  grandfather 
by   being    burned,    that    being   the  Taoist  post. 
And  as  we  came  back  we  saw  specially  good  cali- 
graphists  writing  letters  to  the  deceased.      The 
young  men  were  eager  for  us  to  see  a  very  fine 
crape   myrtle  tree,  of  which   they   declared   the 
leaves  trembled  if  one  only  scratched  the  trunk.  As 
all  the  leaves  were  trembling  in  the  wind,  we  could 
not  decide  if  this  were  more  than  a  legend.     Then 
number-five  actually  tried  to  swarm  up  the  tree  to 
get  me  some  of  the  lovely  pink  blossom.       He 
seemed  quite  irrepressible,  and  next  insisted  on 
lifting  up  my  chair  with  me  and  Jack  in  it,  and  he 
and  one  of  our  coolies  carried  me  about  a  hundred 
yards.     After  which  the  two  young  men  came  a 
little  further  to  see  how  our  pony  frisked  along 


LIFE  ON  A  FARMSTEAD  157 

even  with  A.  on  his  back.  We  came  home  and 
sat  out  in  the  moonlight,  revelling  in  the  cool 
breeze,  till  we  actually  found  it  too  chilly.  We 
had  to  sleep  inside,  and  the  wind  quite  wailed 
before  I  got  to  sleep.  This  morning  heavy  rain, 
coming  in  at  three  places  in  the  sitting-room. 

August  22.  Sunday  the  2Oth  being  again  a 
rainy  day,  we  went  into  town  in  evening.  The 
country  people  were  busy  picking  peppers  as 
we  passed  along,  and  there  were  many  little  fires 
of  paper  cash  by  the  river  side  for  the  spirits  of 
those  drowned.  No  boat  would  take  us  at  first, 
but  at  last  one  said  it  would  for  three  hundred 
cash  ;  we  generally  pay  sixty,  coolies  paying  rather 
more  than  eight  cash,  now  the  water  is  so  high. 
Rather  to  our  surprise  we  heard  the  cook,  without 
any  attempt  at  bargaining,  at  once  promise  three 
hundred  cash.  But  arrived  on  the  other  side  he 
only  gave  a  hundred  and  twenty.  At  last  after  a 
good  deal  of  fuss,  as  usual,  he  gave  a  hundred  and 
sixty.  "  That's  the  only  way  to  manage,"  he  said, 
when  asked  for  an  explanation.  "  If  I  had  given 
the  hundred  and  sixty  at  once,  the  men  would  not 
have  taken  it.  And  if  I  had  not  promised  the 
three  hundred  in  the  first  instance  they  would  have 
run  away,  and  you  would  have  got  no  boat  to  cross 
over  in.  Now,  as  you  saw,  they  were  perfectly 
satisfied  with  the  hundred  and  sixty  in  the  end." 


158     IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

And  so  it  really  appeared.  Went  shopping  yester- 
day, and  was  nearly  choked  by  the  acrid  odour  of 
the  red  peppers  being  fried  in  the  streets.  In  the 
afternoon,  going  to  the  "  Friends  Mission,"  country 
house,  found  nearly  all  the  missionaries  of  the  place 
out  there,  after  having  been  myself  nearly  suffo- 
cated by  the  smoke  of  the  innumerable  little  fires 
of  imitation  paper  money  over  the  graves  outside 
the  city  gate.  Coming  back  when  it  was  darker, 
there  was  still  the  same  smarting  smoke,  but  the 
fires  looked  very  pretty.  There  were  many  of 
them  all  about  the  vast  graveyard  that  stretches 
on  all  sides  from  the  river  side  up  to  the  city 
gates  ;  but  there  seemed,  as  far  as  I  could  see,  to 
be  an  extra  number  in  the  paper  burning  en- 
closures just  outside  the  gate  I  went  out  by.  It 
felt  beautifully  fresh  and  cool  getting  back  into  the 
country  this  morning.  There  seems  to  be  no 
nutriment  in  the  city  air  just  now,  one  feels  quite 
faint  breathing  it. 

August  26.  Yesterday  the  farmer's  wife 
brought  in  all  the  large  packets  of  paper  cash, 
that  the  eldest  son  has  been  so  busy  directing  in 
his  best  handwriting  for  some  days  past  to  the 
grandfather,  uncle,  and  all  the  dead  relations  to 
the  number  of  eleven.  He  had  a  list  to  do  it  by, 
with  the  amount  of  cash,  etc.,  to  be  sent  to  each 
carefully  calculated.  The  farmer  came  in  and 


LIFE  ON  A  FARMSTEAD  159 

stood  the  packets  in  rows  along  three  sides  of  the 
table ;  then  with  the  help  of  the  little  boys  a 
number  of  chop  sticks  were  brought  in  and  a 
dinner  laid,  with  cups  of  wine  all  round.  The 
farmer  prostrated  himself  before  it  all  and  the 
ancestral  tablets  three  times,  having  previously 
carefully  lighted  a  little  row  of  joss  sticks  and  burnt 
some  incense.  He  then  very  reverentially  burnt 
some  paper  on  the  floor  before  the  table,  and 
poured  on  the  floor  two  cups  of  wine  ;  after  which 
the  whole  dinner  was  carried  away  to  be  eaten, 
and  the  envelopes  to  be  burnt,  which  they  were  in 
the  evening,  when  they  made  a  cheerful  blaze. 
They  had  wanted  us  to  dine  with  them  that  day, 
but  A.  did  not  come  out  till  the  evening,  and  I 
had  visitors.  The  Yuen  family  had  sent  us  an 
invitation  to  dinner  the  day  before,  but  the 
servants  sent  back  word  A.  was  in  Chungking.  I 
as  it  happened  was  walking  with  a  missionary, 
who  had  come  out  for  fresh  air  and  exercise,  all 
over  our  hills  from  nine  to  one.  It  seemed 
wonderful  one  could  do  this  on  August  25, 
especially  as  it  was  sunny.  But  the  breeze  was 
delightful.  There  are  many  dragon  flies  about 
now,  and  of  much  more  brilliant  colouring  than 
they  were  earlier  in  the  summer.  The  grass- 
hoppers also  are  very  big  and  numerous  now. 
We  especially  admire  a  big  green  one  with  a 


160     IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

reddish  head,  and  a  broad  amber  stripe  all  down 
its  back.  The  farm  family  has  at  last  finished 
unhusking  their  Indian  corn,  the  business  of  so 
many  evenings  past. 

September  3.  Last  Tuesday,  August  29, 
seems  to  have  been  the  hottest  day  this  year,  and 
then  in  one  sickroom  in  Chungking  the  ther- 
mometer fell  from  over  a  hundred  to  seventy  within 
the  twelve  hours.  Here  it  did  not  rise  above 
eighty-seven,  although  it  felt  much  hotter,  and 
already  by  luncheon  time  it  was  getting  cooL  Then 
rose  such  a  wind  one  could  hardly  walk  against  it, 
and  next  morning  it  felt  so  cold  I  hurried  to 
Chungking  to  find  the  thermometer  only  seventy- 
two,  heap  on  clothes  and  generally  feel  very  chilly. 
The  day  before  that  I  saw  some  tea  bushes  in 
flower,  and  to-day  coming  in  rice  harvest  was 
going  on  merrily,  the  rice  being  beaten  with  a 
stick  directly  it  is  gathered,  behind  a  screen  in 
each  field.  Yesterday  the  farmer's  wife  came  to 
see  us  in  her  new  clothes,  begging  us  to  interfere 
to  protect  her,  as  the  magistrate  is  insisting  on  her 
declaring  the  present  whereabouts  of  the  man, 
whom  she  had  here  weaving,  before  the  robbery, 
and  of  whom  she  now  says  she  knows  nothing. 
Of  course  we  will  not,  as  we  thought  from  the  first 
he  was  very  likely  an  accomplice.  Every  other 
foreigner,  or  Chinese  dependent  upon  a  foreigner, 


LIFE  ON  A  FARMSTEAD  161 

who  has  been  robbed,  has  either  recovered  the 
stolen  articles,  or  been  compensated  for  them  by 
the  local  authorities,  so  I  think  we  ought  to  get 
something.  Yesterday  I  spent  bargaining  for 
counterpanes  with  quaint  patterns  in  blue  and  white, 
to  be  used  as  tablecloths,  and  pillowcases  for  chair 
backs.  A  composition  with  the  pattern  drawn  or 
stamped  on  it  is  used  as  a  stencil  plate.  Then 
with  a  large  brush  lime  is  passed  over  the  pattern. 
After  which  the  cloth  is  dyed,  and  then  when 
quite  dry  the  white  lime  is  brushed  off.  Thus 
the  oftener  they  are  washed  the  better  they 
are  said  to  look.  I  got  a  large  tablecloth  for 
one  dollar,  a  third  less  than  the  man  asked,  but 
very  likely  too  much.  Some  pongee  silks  were 
brought  for  us  to  see,  some  undyed,  some  dyed 
the  most  beautifully  artistic  shades,  so  that  I 
longed  to  buy  them  all.  They  are  about  los.  the 
piece  of  60  Chinese  feet  (24  yards)  of  1 7  J  inches 
wide.  Such  are  the  city  amusements !  but  out 
here  the  fresh  breeze  feels  so  invigorating  as  more 
than  to  compensate. 

September  5.  All  yesterday  watched  two 
tailors  putting  silk  wadding  into  the  dressing- 
gown  I  am  having  made  for  a  wedding  present, 
and  smoothing  down  the  edges  with  dabs  of 
cotton  wadding.  Then  having  announced  that 
it  would  take  eight  days  to  finish  it,  the  dressing- 


162     IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

gown  was  carried  off  and  I  cannot  see  anything 
to  prevent  them  from  substituting  cotton  for  silk 
in  the  privacy  of  their  own  apartment,  if  the 
spirit  so  moves  them.  The  head  tailor  however 
is  a  Christian,  and  his  father  before  him,  so  he 
ought  to  be  above  such  dishonesty.  He  has, 
however,  like  the  equally  Christian  Godownman, 
a  perfectly  inscrutable  face,  which  always  makes 
me  think  the  latter  descended  from  Moham- 
medans ;  but  though  coming  from  Yunnan,  where 
there  are  so  many,  he  says  he  is  not.  We  came 
out  to  the  farm  in  the  morning.  The  country 
looks  rather  yellow  now  with  just  stubble  where 
the  rice  fields  and  the  graceful  tall  millet  were. 
The  Indian  corn  is  also  all  cut  down,  and  the 
sunflowers,  standing  up  tall  and  somewhat  wide 
apart  in  groves,  give  the  effect  of  a  garden  run 
quite  wild.  Seme  turnips  and  also  some  beans 
are  already  planted  out,  but  they  are  barely 
sprouting  as  yet, 

September  7.  Yesterday  went  for  quite  a 
long  ride  along  the  hill -tops,  round  by  the  dwarf 
oak  walk,  and  back  along  the  hill-tops.  It  was 
extraordinary  to  see  what  places  the  pony  carried 
me  down  ;  they  tried  my  nerve  once  or  twice, 
especially  as  the  pony  generally  stopped  at  the 
top  to  see  if  I  would  get  off.  But  it  then  carried 
me  down  apparently  with  no  difficulty.  Once 


LIFE  ON  A  FARMSTEAD  163 

or  twice  when  I  made  a  mistake  about  the  path 
the  little  creature  tried  with  all  its  might  to  go 
the  right  way,  although  as  far  as  I  know  it  has 
only  been  twice  before  in  those  parts.  There 
were  biggish  drops  of  rain  most  of  the  time,  with 
violent  gusts  of  wind,  so  that  I  had  to  take  off 
my  hat,  and  by  the  time  I  got  home  it  was 
regularly  raining.  The  storm  only  began,  how- 
ever, as  night  came  on,  such  a  violent  wind  the 
walnuts  fell  in  showers,  the  children  like  merry 
grigs  running  in  and  out  to  pick  them  up.  Then 
one  of  our  blinds  was  violently  blown  to  and 
broken,  next  a  branch  crashed  off  the  walnut 
tree.  I  had  to  bolt  all  the  doors  to  keep  the 
draught  out,  the  first  time  since  we  have  been 
here  that  we  have  done  more  than  put  the  doors 
to.  The  rain  seemed  pretty  heavy,  but  I  was 
relieved  that  it  came  in  only  in  one  place  to  the 
sitting-room.  We  have  almost  given  up  using 
the  bedroom,  except  as  a  dressing-room,  in  spite 
of  all  the  precautions  A.  has  taken  to  make  it 
dry  and  airy.  Mud  floors  on  a  precipitous  hill- 
side, when  it  rains,  are  not  suited  to  European 
constitutions.  But  I  did  not  feel  it  as  cold  as 
the  farm  people,  who  looked  blue,  and  ran  about 
in  their  excitement  declaring  they  were  so  cold ; 
the  children  with  their  clothes  tucked  up  to  their 
thighs  lest  they  should  wet  them.  Jack  was  not 


164    IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

satisfied  until  a  basket  was  brought  him  with 
straw,  on  which  he  straightway  curled  himself 
up  inside,  as  comfortable  as  any  cat,  whilst  the 
little  pony  was  led  to  his  stable  to  do  likewise. 

September  n.  We  returned  to  the  farm 
again  on  the  9th  to  find  the  most  perfect  weather, 
bright  sunshine,  crisp,  pure  air,  a  pleasant  breeze, 
and  a  clear  blue  sky.  Spent  almost  all  Saturday 
out  on  the  hills.  In  the  evening  went  to  call 
on  some  missionaries,  who,  having  found  our  air 
very  reviving,  have  now  taken  rooms  some 
hundred  and  fifty  feet  lower  than  we  are,  and 
nearer  the  village,  but  in  a  grander  house  than 
that  we  occupy  and  with  a  garden  enclosed  by 
a  wall,  which  they  happily  think  a  great  advantage. 
I  should  not  like  it  at  all,  as  it  shuts  out  the 
breeze  and  shuts  in  the  mosquitoes.  Our  friends 
were  out,  but  the  people  of  the  house  received  us, 
as  if  our  call  were  to  them,  the  lady  of  the  house 
having  amber  bracelets  and  very  fine  manners. 
Our  landlord,  who  had  formerly  been  her  tenant, 
was  there  deeply  engaged  with  some  Christian 
tracts.  He  had  seemed  really  interested  and 
for  a  long  time  pursued  the  conversation,  which 
a  Church  missionary,  staying  with  us,  began, 
owing  to  the  farmer's  curious  mistake,  thinking 
the  three  old  women  washing,  each  with  a  wash- 
tub  in  front  of  her,  in  Sunlight  Soap's  advertise- 


LIFE  ON  A  FARMSTEAD  165 

ment  were  three  English  Buddhas  sitting  on  lotus 
flowers  and  with  high  caps  for  glories.  But 
besides  being  anxious  about  religion  he  and  our 
hostess  were  voluble  on  the  subject  of  the  misery 
the  officials  were  bringing  on  the  district  by 
searching  for  our  stolen  property.  They  quarter 
their  runners  on  the  various  houses  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood, and  one  poor  man  we  were  now  told 
had  to  sell  his  clothes  in  order  to  provide  dinner 
for  these  men.  They  begged  us  to  interfere. 
But  this  is  the  Chinese  way  of  forcing  the  people, 
some  of  whom  they  know  must  be  in  the  secret, 
to  give  information.  There  was  a  really  beautiful 
bush  of  Marvel -of- Peru  in  full  variegated  flower, 
and  some  red  lilies  and  Marshal  Niels  and  bal- 
sams, so  the  garden  looked  gay.  A.  had  before 
by  our  landlord's  invitation  been  with  him  to  dine 
and  shwa  at  the  T'u  Shan  Temple.  As  Chinese 
have  generally  an  ulterior  object,  he  thought 
perhaps  he  was  taken  as  a  witness,  for  the  object 
of  the  visit  to  the  temple  was  to  get  the  priests 
there  to  pay  for  some  grain  they  had  had  from 
our  farm.  The  farmer  came  away  however  un- 
successful, and  took  occasion  to  tell  A.  what  an 
idle  lot  the  priests  were,  and  how  he  himself 
would  never  contribute  to  temples,  but  to  good 
roads,  bridges,  free  ferries  and  the  like.  A  lady 
missionary  had  been  spending  the  day  with  us, 


166    IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

and  he  wanted  to  know  what  her  object  was  in 
coming  and  how  much  she  got  paid  for  it.  A. 
told  him,  which  was  the  truth  in  her  case,  that 
she  was  rich  and  got  paid  nothing,  but  only  came 
for  love  of  the  people  anxious  to  do  them  good, 
adding  that  he  himself  told  her  she  had  much 
better  not  come  here  but  go  home,  and  do  good 
there,  as  the  people  here  did  not  want  her,  and 
did  not  like  her.  This  only  to  make  her  position 
intelligible  to  the  farmer — a  most  difficult  thing 
to  do,  for  it  is  an  incredible  position  to  a  China- 
man. But  the  farmer  exclaimed,  "  Who  does 
not  like  her?  Only  bad  people.  All  decent 
people  must  be  grateful  to  her  for  coming  to  help 
the  poor  people."  And  when  she  went  away  the 
farmer's  wife  presented  her  with  two  pome- 
granates off  the  one  tree,  and  some  fresh  walnuts. 
Yesterday  evening  the  farmer  came  in  with  his 
tract,  greatly  troubled  ;  his  eyes  were  not  good 
and  the  print  was  too  small  for  him  to  read  much 
of  it.  He  hoped  I  liked  a  bunch  of  red  lilies  he 
had  brought  me,  and  now  what  was  Shang  Ti  ? 
(Supreme  Ruler).  Wasn't  he  the  same  as 
Heaven-and- Earth  and  as  the  Lord  of  Heaven  ? 
The  latter  is  the  name  the  Roman  Catholics  give 
God  in  Chinese,  the  former  the  Chinese  name 
for  Him,  and  Heaven-and- Earth  is  either  another 
name  for  God,  or  a  God  the  Chinese  thus  worship. 


LIFE  ON  A  FARMSTEAD  167 

I  only  knew  just  enough  Chinese  to  say  Supreme 
Ruler  and  Lord  of  Heaven  were  one  and  the 
same,  and  created  heaven  and  earth.  "  That's 
it,"  said  the  farmer,  " that's  it!"  But  I  wish  I 
could  convey  the  extreme  reverence  with  which 
he  spoke,  and  the  way  in  which  he  waved  his 
hand  around,  as  if  to  signify  heaven  and  earth 
and  all  things.  "  Images  are  no  good,"  he  con- 
tinued and  then  went  on  with  a  long  diatribe 
against  them,  which  I  could  not  follow.  "  They 
are  made  of  wood,"  I  said  hesitatingly,  for  I 
know  so  few  words.  "  Yes,  of  wood  or  of  clay," 
said  he.  But  he  was  evidently  anxious  to  have 
his  book  read  to  him,  and  I  could  only  read 
isolated  characters  here  and  there,  so  he  went 
off  to  study  it  by  himself.  He  has  just  the  same 
type  of  face  as  the  high  priest  of  the  temple  we 
stayed  in  last  year  on  the  top  of  the  sacred 
Mountain  of  Omi,  and  is  evidently  naturally  of  a 
religious  turn,  and  quite  unsatisfied  by  Buddhism. 
The  sunset  was  beautiful  last  night,  red  fading 
into  various  tints  of  orange  and  yellow,  a  sort  of 
Aurora  Borealis,  as  so  many  nights  before,  send- 
ing out  bunches  of  rays  in  different  directions, 
some  straight  to  me  as  I  sat  on  a  new  hill-top  to 
witness  it.  But  to-day  the  disagreeables  of  farm 
life  began  again ;  I  had  been  sitting  outside, 
thinking  how  beautifully  fresh  and  pure  the  air 


168    IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

was,  and  how  delightful  that  now  with  a  milder 
sun  one  could  really  enjoy  out-of-door  life,  and 
not  be  boxed  up  in  the  house  all  through  the  day- 
light hours.  The  farm  people  had  as  usual  been 
breakfasting  outside,  sitting  on  low  benches 
round  a  very  little,  low  table,  the  children  sitting 
on  the  high  threshold,  all  busy  with  their  bowls. 
But  when  this  was  over,  men  came  with  loads, 
and  there  was  a  great  re-mixing  of  the  liquid 
manure,  almost  as  valuable  for  farm  produce  as 
the  solid,  for  which  last  they  pay  a  quarter  of  a 
dollar  every  two  buckets  if  they  have  to  buy  it. 
The  smell,  though  only  in  whiffs  at  each  fresh 
mixing,  was  really  too  objectionable,  so  I  went 
inside.  In  town  the  pigs  are  now  said  to  have 
got  swine  fever,  and  to  be  dying  by  hundreds,  so 
we  have  been  cautioned  not  to  eat  pork,  and 
handed  this  caution  on  to  our  servants,  who,  how- 
ever, are  quite  unimpressed.  The  cows  for  the 
second  time  have  gone  to  gaol  by  the  magistrates' 
orders,  as  they  are  accused  of  damaging  the 
graves,  which  occupy  all  available  pasture  land 
outside  the  city.  There  is,  however,  a  slight 
doubt  as  to  whether  this  is  not  a  fable  of  the 
dairyman's  in  order  to  raise  the  price  of  milk,  or 
account  for  some  shortcoming.  For  each  time 
that  the  cows  are  all  said  to  be  sent  to  prison, 
some  people  get  their  milk  all  the  same. 


LIFE  ON  A  FARMSTEAD  169 

We  are  beginning  to  wonder  whether  the 
worrying  the  people  round  so  much  on  the  plea  of 
our  stolen  goods  is  not  in  order  to  make  them 
object  to  our  going  on  building  on  the  land  we 
have  rented  near  here.  Directly  the  robbery 
occurred,  one  missionary  said  he  should  not  be 
surprised  if  it  had  not  been  done  by  order  of  the 
magistrate  in  order  to  say  he  could  not  undertake 
to  protect  foreigners  outside  the  city  walls.  This 
seems  too  elaborate  a  plot.  But  that  they  should 
utilise  the  theft  to  make  us  disliked  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood would  only  be  natural.  We  hear  no 
more  of  having  our  money  returned  us  for  the 
piece  of  land  we  rented  last  year,  and  have  not  so 
far  been  allowed  to  build  upon,  nor  of  our  being 
allowed  to  go  on  building,  and  the  three  months 
we  were  to  spend  at  this  farm  in  order  to  accustom 
the  people  to  us,  etcetera,  are  nearly  up.  From 
the  first,  and  all  through,  indeed,  the  country 
people  have  been  only  too  friendly  and  cordial. 
It  seems  the  country  people  were  so  to  those  two 
missionaries,  who  were  murdered,  and  now  they 
are  all  being  tortured  and  ruined  to  make  them 
also  bring  accusations  against  the  two  dead  men. 
It  makes  one's  blood  boil  to  think  of  it ;  everyone, 
who  was  in  friendly  relations  with  them,  is  being 
persecuted,  and  the  men  from  a  distance,  who 
killed  them — paid  to  do  so,  of  course — are  un- 


M 


170    IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

touched.  I  feel  as  if,  were  I  the  friend  of  the 
murdered  men,  I  must  ask  to  be  tortured  in  the 
place  of  those  poor  ignorant  Chinese  who  are 
being  tortured  out  of  all  recognition — but  I  dare 
not  think  of  it ! 

Crimson  peppers  and  Indian  corn  are  spread 
out  in  the  sun  on  the  threshing  floor,  the  latter 
unhusked,  and  now  being  carefully  raked  over  and 
over,  so  as  to  be  thoroughly  dried. 

September  13.  As  we  go  up  the  mountain  at 
the  back  so  often,  and  just  the  last  bit  is  so 
slippery,  I  took  our  strongest  coolie,  whom  we 
sometimes  call  the  savage,  because  he  is  just  a 
great  strong  brute,  to  cut  steps.  There  I  heard 
the  jingling  of  bells,  and  looking  down  from  the 
mountain  top  saw  some  members  of  the  Yuen 
family  were  paying  us  a  visit,  and  finding  us  out 
were  sitting  round  a  table  with  the  farm  people. 
When  I  came  down  A.  had  just  arrived  from  the 
town,  and  after  admiring  their  ten  taels'  new 
saddle,  a  very  handsome  affair  indeed,  but  so 
mounted  upon  their  pony's  back  as  to  look  very 
heavy,  our  cook  brought  out  wine  for  the  party. 
We  did  not  know  till  afterwards  that  he  had  put 
half  water  with  the  claret,  and  then  added  sugar, 
both  to  make  the  wine  go  further,  and  to  make  it 
more  acceptable  to  a  Chinese  palate.  But  for 
months  afterwards  the  wine  on  this  occasion  was 


LIFE  ON  A  FARMSTEAD  171 

always  referred  to  as  the  best  foreign  wine  they 
had  ever  tasted.  There  were  just  four  glasses  to 
hand  round  their  party  and  one  more  for  A.  But 
our  particular  young  friend  was  actually  so  polite 
as  to  offer  his  to  me.  I  declined,  but  what 
interested  me  to  observe  was  that  one  of  the 
party  promptly  passed  his  glass  on  to  the  groom, 
who  also  had  sat  down  on  the  same  bench  with 
him,  our  foreign  chairs  not  going  round  for  so 
large  a  party,  and  the  groom,  after  having  his 
drink,  handed  it  on  again  to  one  of  the  boys  of 
the  farm,  so  that  everyone  sitting  round  was 
included.  The  same  with  some  cigars  A.  pro- 
duced. Our  young  friend,  having  examined 
them  with  much  interest,  declined  to  smoke,  but 
one  of  his  brothers,  who  had  also  already  professed 
himself  very  ready  to  study  English,  if  A.  would 
give  him  lessons,  smoked  one  for  a  while,  then 
handed  it  on  again,  till  it  was  passed  from  hand 
to  hand  like  a  Chinese  pipe,  each  having  a  smoke 
in  turn. 

The  married  daughter  of  the  farm,  who  has 
been  working,  and  most  beautifully,  a  nightdress 
bag  for  me  with  a  marriage  procession  on  the 
back  in  cross  stitch,  has  developed  bad  ophthalmia, 
and  now  can  hardly  see  for  it.  We  hear  it  is 
very  much  about.  We  feel  greatly  concerned. 
Great  excitement  among  the  boys,  because  our 


172    IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

missionary  friends  are  going  to  exhibit  a  magic 
lantern  on  Thursday  evening  outside  the  temple. 
We  have  our  table  covered  with  red  Guernsey 
lilies  now,  with  a  few  sweet-smelling  orchids  like 
monkeys'  faces  intermixed.  We  had  guests  to 
stay  again  yesterday.  Unfortunately  the  dogs 
barked  horribly  at  men  passing  by  carrying  coal, 
so  that  it  was  difficult  to  sleep.  And  to-day 
again  they  are  doing  something  to  the  various 
cesspools,  and  the  smell  is  horrible.  The  little 
boys  are  eating  sunflower  seeds,  out  of  what  look 
like  gigantic  artichokes,  but  are,  of  course,  old 
sunflowers. 

September  17.  A  dreadful  scene  just  now! 
Everyone  has  come  and  shouted  at  me  with  much 
gesticulation,  apparently  thinking  that  the  way  to 
make  me  understand  was  to  make  me  deaf,  but  I 
cannot  make  out  what  it  is  about,  except  that  it 
has  something  to  do  with  our  robbery.  A  man 
in  a  long  blue  gown  came  first  and  sat  down  and 
waved  his  fan  commandingly  to  all  points  of  the 
compass,  making  such  horrible  faces  I  at  last  got 
the  little  camera  out  to  photograph  him.  But  on 
that  he  sat  quite  still,  and  became  not  worth 
taking.  The  mistress  of  the  house  wept,  after 
evidently  imploring  my  assistance ;  then  dressed, 
and  went  across  the  river  with  the  blue-gowned 
man  and  the  daughter,  who  is  married  unhappily, 


LIFE  ON  A  FARMSTEAD  173 

and  was  returning  to  her  cruel  husband,  together 
with  little  Hae  Ching,  who  had  made  a  special 
toilette  for  the  occasion,  got  his  hair  all  combed 
off  his  face  and  tidily  plaited  with  extra  red  cords 
twisted  round  it,  together  with  what  looked  like  an 
extra  heavy  basket  of  farm  produce,  chickens,  sun- 
flowers, etc.  There  was  great  regret  that  A.  had 
already  crossed  the  river,  and  apparently  they  are 
going  to  interview  him  in  the  first  instance. 
I  imagine  the  woman  has  to  be  cross-examined  at 
the  Yamen  about  the  robbery,  but  feel  the  more 
hard-hearted,  because,  not  having  been  well  lately 
and  had  a  difficulty  about  sleeping,  it  is  very  try- 
ing to  be  so  often  disturbed  by  the  dogs,  and  this 
morning,  very  early,  having  at  last  got  into  a 
thoroughly  comfortable  sleep,  I  was  awakened  by 
my  poor  little  Jack  barking  with  great  determina- 
tion, and  someone,  who  had  evidently  just  been 
coming  in  at  our  door,  retreating  with  a  loud 
laugh — evidently  someone  belonging  to  the  house. 
The  night  before  everyone  was  up  looking  for 
thieves,  one  at  least  of  whom  they  said  was  behind 
the  house.  We  sleep  in  the  sitting-room  now,  the 
earthy  smell  and  smell  from  the  back  being  too 
bad  in  the  bedroom,  and  as  there  is  no  window — 
nothing  but  the  door — one  requires  to  keep  that 
open,  unless  the  night  is  cold,  which  it  was  not 
last  night. 


174     IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

The  day  before  this  unintelligible  but  rather 
moving  scene,  was  a  beautiful  day.  A.  came  over 
early,  and  after  breakfast  we  started  with  the  little 
pony  between  us,  and  actually  got  as  far  as  the 
Gong  Gorge,  going  all  the  way  along  this  range 
without  ever  descending,  most  of  the  time  in  oak 
and  fir  scrub  with  bracken  growing  thickly  and  a 
delightful  odour  of  we  knew  not  what,  but  it  smelt 
like  sweet  briar.  The  views  on  either  side,  as  we 
went  along  the  table  land  at  the  top,  were  very 
fine,  and  we  saw  the  Chin  Fo  Shan  and  all  the 
mountains  to  the  south-east  well  towards  evening. 
The  much-heard-of  Hoa  I  Shan  to  the  north, 
which  I  have  only  seen  once  all  the  time  we  have 
been  out  here,  would  not  show  up.  Tarchendo 
had  his  bridle  taken  off  and  grazed  beside  us 
when  we  stopped,  but  he  was  still  a  little  lame 
because  the  cook  galloped  him  along  the  paved 
road,  whilst  we  were  in  town,  brought  him  down, 
and  fell  off,  himself  getting  covered  with  bruises. 
When  we  returned  here  and  I  asked  him  if  he  had 
not  enjoyed  his  holiday  from  work,  he  presented 
a  most  pitiful  appearance,  and  afterwards  it  all 
came  out.  Just  now,  under  my  supervision,  he 
has  been  giving  Tarchendo,  so-called  from  the 
Tibetan  name  of  Ta  Chien  Lu,  where  we  bought 
him,  a  cold  water  bandage,  using  one  of  my  long 
blue  scandal  cloths  for  the  purpose,  and  the  little 


LIFE  ON  A  FARMSTEAD  175 

pony  looks   quite   smart   and   comfortable   again 
with  it  on. 

We  stopped  at  a  cottage  to  have  some  water 
boiled  to  drink,  as  there  was  no  good  drinking 
water  to  be  got  all  the  way  along.  The  coolies 
seemed  very  shy  of  asking  anywhere  for  it,  but 
Kung  Tao,  the  funny  old  character  who  attends 
upon  the  pony,  and  is  generally  led  about  by  it, 
rather  than  leads  it,  is  known  to  all  the  countryside, 
and  had  friends  in  a  cottage  near  by.  So  we  went 
there,  and  got  a  pumelow  as  well  as  hot  water. 
Then  A.  had  a  dip  in  one  of  the  head  pools  for 
irrigating  the  rice  fields,  very  warm  at  the  top  and 
cool  below,  and  our  soldier  coolie  actually  went  in 
too,  pronouncing  it  very  cold. 

Before  we  started  yesterday,  we  saw  hanging 
up  the  leg  of  the  wild  boar,  which  we  hunted  one 
night  but  did  not  kill.  It  has  been  killed  of  course 
whilst  we  have  been  away.  So  far,  that  seems 
the  only  piece  of  it  forthcoming,  and  that  was 
smoked  when  we  saw  it. 

The  missionary  magic  lantern  entertainment 
had  only  one  fault  we  are  told,  that  it  brought  in 
so  many  people  from  the  country  round,  who  all 
stayed  the  night  and  wanted  breakfast  next  morn- 
ing. Strangely  enough  there  was  a  high  wind 
that  evening,  so  unusual  in  these  parts,  so  it  could 
not  be  outside  as  intended,  but  had  to  take  place 


176    IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

in  the  temple.  As  the  crowd  inside  were  all  bent 
upon  seeing,  and  I  did  not  want  to  stand  in  their 
way,  and  they  also  smelt  strongly  inside  a  building, 
I  soon  went  away,  but  the  farm  people,  with  whom 
I  went  to  it,  seem  to  have  enjoyed  it,  though  they 
are  so  undemonstrative  it  is  hard  to  tell  whether 
they  were  pleased,  or  simply  puzzled.  Hae  Ching 
gives  a  very  good  account  of  the  pictures  and  of 
what  Jesus  did  and  said,  for  in  the  second  part  the 
slides  were  illustrative  of  His  life.  I  quite  under- 
stand that,  as  people  go  on  trying  to  convert 
Chinese  and  failing,  they  seize  first  one  aid  (?)  and 
then  another.  But  the  exhibition  of  magic  lantern 
slides  illustrative  of  the  life  of  Jesus,  of  whom  they 
have  never  heard,  with  what  to  them  appear  very 
comical  clothes,  and  doing  very  strange  things — 
in  a  Buddhist  temple  too — to  Chinese,  does  not 
commend  itself  to  me. 

We  have  got  a  new  house  and  the  business 
house  is  moving  into  it,  so  that  we  and  our 
household  will  remain  alone  in  that  we  at  present 
occupy  in  the  city.  This  will  give  us  more  room, 
and  some  quiet.  And  I  hope  it  may  save  our 
servants  from  all  being  corrupted  by  the  free 
living  ways  of  Szechuan  business  men,  whose 
one  idea  seems  to  be  dinner  parties  and  wine 
drinking.  When  A.  wanted  to  come  across 
yesterday,  our  head  man-servant  never  came  to 


LIFE  ON  A  FARMSTEAD  177 

wait  upon  him.  On  enquiry  he  found  he  had  not 
come  in  all  night.  When  the  Boy  appeared,  he 
said  with  the  greatest  calm  he  had  been  to  dinner 
with  the  carpenter  the  night  before  and  taken 
too  much  wine.  Not  a  muscle  of  his  face 
expressed  shame  or  confusion.  For  Chinese 
think  it  rather  grand  than  otherwise  to  drink 
much  wine.  The  other  day  a  very  nicely- 
dressed,  most  respectable  woman  arrived  out 
here  to  see  us.  She  turned  out  to  be  the  mother 
of  the  lame  young  man,  who  took  his  two  very 
prettily-dressed  little  girl  twins  to  see  the  dragon 
festival  from  our  boat,  when  I  went  to  see  it,  and 
brought  them  to  pay  their  respects  to  me  first. 
He  is  an  outside  business  man,  receiving  no 
salary,  but  eating  the  Hong's  rice,  and  paid 
commission  on  any  business  he  gets.  But  so  far 
he  has  not  got  any.  His  mother  began  by 
asking  A.  to  give  him  a  salary,  and  pay  it  to  her, 
as  he  brought  nothing  home  for  his  little  girls, 
his  wife  and  herself.  She  had  been  in  a  good 
way  of  business,  but  his  extravagance  had  ruined 
her,  forcing  her  to  sell  first  one  thing,  then 
another.  Then  she  proceeded  to  beg  A.  to 
employ  him  elsewhere,  as  she  said  he  had  bad 
associates  here,  who  led  him  astray,  and  that  he 
was  all  the  time  shwa-'mg  with  them,  instead  of 
with  his  excellent  business  connection.  A. 


178    IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

promised  to  do  what  he  could,  and  in  the  first 
instance  decided  to  exhort  the  young  man,  which 
he  says  he  did  with  some  sternness,  but  without 
making  any  reference  to  his  mother's  visit. 
Again,  he  said,  though  he  watched  the  young 
man  closely,  having  placed  him  in  a  strong  light 
for  the  purpose,  he  found  his  countenance 
perfectly  unperturbed  and  inscrutable. 

The  tailor  has  now  finished  the  wadded  silk 
dressing-gown,  he  has  made  all  the  alterations  in 
it  with  equanimity,  having  started  off  by  making 
it  too  tight  everywhere,  which  they  will  think  is 
what  foreigners  desire,  and  gradually  having  got 
it  to  something  like  Chinese  looseness.  But  he 
now  firmly  declines  to  make  any  more  foreign 
clothes.  They  give  him  too  much  anxiety,  he 
says. 

September  19.  The  dreadful  scene  is 
explained.  When  the  poor  farmer's  wife  went  in 
two  days  ago  she  knelt  before  A.,  for  the 
discharged  weaver  under  torture  has  confessed  to 
being  the  thief  (people  say  falsely),  but  says  he 
did  it  at  the  instigation  of  the  nice,  married  eldest 
son  of  the  farm,  who  lives  in  the  city.  So  the 
eldest  son,  as  we  understand,  has  been  thrown 
into  prison,  and  she,  his  mother,  wanted  A.  to 
say  that  her  son  had  nothing  to  do  with  it.  But 
how  could  he,  much  though  he  longed  to  do  so, 


LIFE  ON  A  FARMSTEAD  179 

for  we  don't  believe  it  for  a  moment,  and  we  liked 
him  so  much  ?  So  now  it  seems  there  is  the 
married  daughter  almost  blind  with  ophthalmia 
from  working  my  bag,  and  the  eldest  son  in 
prison  through  us  too. 

The  head  of  the  Twansheo  (elders  of  the 
district)  also  interviewed  A.  The  man  who  came 
out  and  gesticulated  so  yesterday  was  not  a 
yamen  runner,  but  the  head  of  the  family  who 
came  out  to  tell  the  news.  It  is  considered  very 
serious. 

A  quite  poor  woman  has  died  at  a  cottage  in 
the  valley  beneath  us,  and  at  night  it  was  pretty 
to  see  lights  all  along  the  curving  path  for  a  con- 
siderable distance.  People  here  said  they  were 
bonfires  of  paper,  whether  paper  cash  I  do  not 
know.  Unfortunately  now  there  are  Taoist  rites 
all  night  long ;  the  music  is  not  ugly  at  a  distance, 
and  to  my  ear  rather  cheery,  but  the  dogs  keep 
being  awakened  by  each  fresh  outburst,  and 
barking.  And  one  wishes  the  poor  woman  could 
have  had  more  fuss  made  about  her  in  her  life- 
time instead  of  so  much  now. 

September  22.  There  has  been  a  great  piece 
of  work  at  the  grand  house,  at  which  the 
missionaries  have  rooms,  making  cakes  for  the 
festival  on  the  I5th  of  the  Chinese  moon.  Two 
men  with  mallets  four  feet  long,  made  out  of 


i8o     IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

whole  locust  trees,  were  using  them  as  pestles, 
one  disengaging  the  sticky,  glutinous  rice  off  the 
other's  mallet  by  a  dexterous  blow.  Four  of  the 
good  lady's  tenants  had  come  in  to  officiate,  and  a 
great  assemblage  was  looking  on  with  much  fun 
and  merriment,  reminding  us  of  the  stirring  of 
our  Christmas  puddings.  Later  on  the  cakes 
were  borne  in  triumph  by  a  bevy  of  men,  and 
patted  and  flattened  out  into  about  the  size  of 
dinner  plates.  We  had  had  some  for  supper,  and 
uncommonly  stick-jaw  we  found  them,  but  I  can 
fancy  their  being  good  eaten  with  sugar  water 
when  one  is  very  hungry.  At  our  farm  there 
have  been  no  merry  doings,  gradually  everyone 
has  abandoned  the  farm.  The  stirring  mistress 
has  been  for  two  days  kneeling  and  weeping  in 
A.'s  office,  begging  him  to  say  her  son  had 
nothing  to  do  with  our  robbery.  He  lent  her  ten 
thousand  cash  to  mollify  the  runners'  hearts,  that 
her  son  might  not  be  put  into  an  instrument  of 
torture,  that  seems  to  answer  to  the  Maiden  of 
our  Middle  Ages,  and  said  in  the  end  if  she  could 
get  the  head  of  the  twenty  elders  of  the  district, 
who  must  have  known  him  always,  to  testify  to 
his  character,  he  would  send  in  his  testimony  to 
the  Consul,  and  ask  him  to  do  what  could  be 
done.  To-day  the  poor  young  man's  very  dirty, 
hard-worked  drudge  of  a  wife — what  a  thing  it  is 


TAOIST   HIGH    PRIEST    IN    FULL   CANONICALS,    WITH    RUI,    i.e.,   SCEPTRE,    IN 
RIGHT   HAND. 

[To  face  page  180. 


LIFE  ON  A  FARMSTEAD  181 

to  be  a  daughter-in-law  in  China ! — has  gone  into 
town  too,  and  the  farmer  himself  appears  no 
more  ;  so  now  there  are  only  the  three  children : 
bright-faced  little  Hae  Ching,  who  is  at  school  all 
day,  and  his  younger  brother  of  the  horrible  skin 
disease,  who  was  again  crying  himself  to  sleep 
the  other  night.  Besides  the  boys  there  are  now 
only  the  other  lodgers  and  ourselves.  We  have 
alarms  of  thieves  every  night ;  the  dogs  bark 
furiously,  keeping  everyone  from  sleeping,  and 
there  really  was  a  robbery  the  night  before  last  at 
the  neighbouring  village. 

To-day  A.,  unable  any  longer  to  bear  the 
thought  of  the  misery  we  have  anyhow  been  the 
means  of  bringing  upon  these  poor  people,  has 
written  to  the  Consul  enquiring  if  he  can  find  out 
whether  what  we  have  heard  is  true,  and  asking 
him  if  so  to  tell  the  magistrate  that,  while  of 
course  not  presuming  to  interfere  with  Chinese 
justice,  yet  if  it  be  but  a  question  of  recovering 
the  stolen  goods  he  would  rather  renounce  them 
for  ever  than  bring  such  trouble  on  our  hosts. 
The  last  time  the  farmer  appeared,  however,  he 
rather  puzzled  us.  It  was  two  nights  ago,  in  the 
evening,  and  I  remarked  at  once  he  had  been 
drinking  wine,  he  was  so  jovial.  A.  could  not 
believe  it,  because  he  said  he  had  been  dining  at 
the  T'u  Shan  Temple.  But  on  inquiry  it  appeared 


i82     IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

that  he  had  had  both  wine  and  meat  there. 
"  At  a  Buddhist  temple  ?  "  persisted  A.  "  Why, 
yes !  "  said  the  farmer.  "  You  see  it  is  the  festival 
of  a  very  bad  pusa"  (or  image).  "What  do  you 
worship  a  bad  pusa  for  ?  "  "  Why  !  we  must ! 
He  is  the  head  of  all  the  wolves  and  night  depre- 
dators." Then  there  followed  a  talk  about  the 
monastery  we  stayed  at  on  Mount  Omi,  and  that 
at  the  Hoa  Ngai,  where  neither  wine  nor  meat 
were  allowed,  and  there  were  no  bad  Pusa,  our 
Hupeh  cook  interrupting  with  much  warmth  to 
ask,  "  Did  we  not  know  the  temple  at  Wuchang, 
the  capital  of  his  province,  on  the  back  of  the 
Tortoise  Hill,  which  was  in  connection  with  the 
Hoa  Ngai,  and  where  there  were  also  no  bad 
Pusa  ?  "  Then  the  farmer  went  on  to  say,  "If  you 
want  to  build  on  a  piece  of  my  land  here  at  the 
back  among  the  fir  trees,  it  is  beautifully  cool 
there,  and  I  should  be  glad  to  oblige  you,  you  are 
such  a  kind  man,  and  so  good."  "  Shall  you  be 
here  to-morrow ? "  asked  A.  "No,  the  day 
after."  "  Well,  the  day  after  I  will  go  and  have 
a  look  at  it  with  you."  He  was  stripped  to  the 
waist,  as  if  it  were  the  height  of  summer,  to  cool 
down  after  his  wine  drinking.  There  was  not  a 
word  said  about  his  eldest  son  in  prison,  nor  about 
all  the  family  trouble  and  disgrace.  He  has  not 
appeared  again  since.  And  we  do  not  know 


LIFE  ON  A  FARMSTEAD  183 

quite  what  to  make  of  the  little  scene.  As  A. 
says  :  "  The  time  to  be  on  your  guard  is  when  a 
Chinaman  flatters  you."  It  seemed  an  odd  time 
to  choose.  The  pigeons  have  two  little  ones,  a 
great  delight  to  the  eldest  boy,  who  is  for  ever 
clapping  his  hands  to  make  his  pigeons  rise  or 
come,  making  a  sort  of  /Eolian  music  through  the 
air  with  the  whistle  fastened  on  to  the  cock's  tail, 
which  gives  forth  one  prolonged  musical  note 
more  or  less  acute  as  his  flight  is  faster  or  the 
reverse.  The  pony's  fetlock  swelled  again  after 
our  expedition  on  Sunday,  so  we  have  been 
bandaging  it  with  cold  water,  tying  it  up  again  in 
one  of  my  long,  blue  sandal  cloths.  The  little 
creature  seems  quite  to  understand  it,  and  holds 
up  his  foot  to  be  tied  up,  but  does  not  approve  of 
having  his  leg  handled.  The  weather  has  turned 
very  hot  and  oppressive  again.  A.  says  in  the 
city  yesterday  it  was  well  up  in  the  nineties  and 
he  thought  the  hottest  day  this  summer.  In  the 
evening  the  clouds  gathered  round  these  hills,  and 
we  every  minute  expected  a  thunderstorm.  But 
it  passed  off,  and  there  was  a  lovely  moonlight 
night  again  with  only  more  wind  than  usual. 
Everywhere  about  the  country  they  are  burning 
the  ground,  mixing  dried  grass  with  the  earth  to 
keep  it  smouldering  on.  We  sat  by  one  of  these 
fires  at  the  nearest  gap  in  our  hills  last  night, 


184    IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

enjoying  the  smell  of  the  burning  weeds  as  well  as 
the  breeze  and  the  moonlit  expanse  before  us. 
But  the  summer  is  lasting  very  long  this  year,  as 
great  heat  began  before  the  middle  of  April. 
People  who  have  lived  here  some  years  say,  how- 
ever, it  is  the  coolest  summer  they  have  known 
here. 

September  23.  The  farmer's  wife  came  back 
last  night,  looking  very  sad ;  the  daughter-in-law, 
who  had  only  been  away  all  day,  also  returned. 
Bright-faced  little  Hae  Ching  now  sits  under  the 
walnut  tree  crying,  the  tears  silently  rolling  down 
his  cheeks  at  the  thought  of  his  brother's  disgrace. 
They  say  he  has  been  bambooed  in  the  Yamen  ; 
also,  we  hear,  put  upon  the  rack.  Our  cook  is 
begging  us  to  cross  the  river  at  once,  for  he  says 
there  will  be  trouble  on  the  country-side  when 
this  becomes  known.  I  wonder  if  it  has  any  con- 
nection with  this,  that  the  coolie  we  sent  across 
the  river  with  a  note  did  not  return,  but  sent  a 
substitute,  and  that  the  Boy  has  not  come  back. 
But  this  may  simply  be  on  account  of  the  feast  on 
Sunday.  All  the  elders  of  the  district  are  invited 
to  dinner  to-morrow,  and  A.  wrote  another  letter 
to  the  Consul,  but  decided  not  to  go  in,  so  as  to 
be  present  at  the  dinner  here,  and  say  he  has  done 
what  he  could  to  get  the  eldest  son  off.  We  feel 
too  sad  even  to  talk  over  things  now.  This 


LIFE  ON  A  FARMSTEAD  185 

morning  there  was  black  mist  over  Chungking, 
a  dull,  overcast  day,  and  of  course  cooler.  A.  and 
I  have  been  practising  with  revolvers.  The  elders 
are  going  by  to  dinner.  Everything  seems  sad, 
such  a  contrast  from  the  brilliant,  sunshiny  day  on 
which  we  gave  our  grand  dinner  on  arrival.  We 
had  meant  to  give  another,  but  just  as  we  were 
about  to  send  out  invitations  our  landlord's  son 
was  thrown  into  prison,  and  we  felt  it  inexpedient. 
September  24.  Another  dull  day  with  mist 
on  all  the  mountain  tops,  but  not  such  a  black, 
heavy  cloud  as  yesterday.  After  long,  long  wait- 
ing, probably  because  it  was  one  of  the  three  great 
settling  days  of  the  Chinese  year,  the  dinner  came 
off.  The  elders  were  all  most  polite  to  A.,  said 
they  knew  he  was  a  very  good  man,  and  that  it 
was  no  fault  of  his.  They  brought  a  paper,  which 
they  were  all  signing,  to  testify  to  the  goodness 
of  the  farm  family  on  both  sides,  father's  and 
mother's.  Both  families  had  been  settled  here  for 
a  hundred  and  fifty  years  and  were  well-known. 
On  the  other  hand  the  weaver  was  a  very  bad 
character,  known  to  be  so,  whom  the  farmer's  wife 
had  only  engaged  out  of  compassion  for  his 
mother,  a  widow  living  in  the  valley  below,  who 
had  two  sons,  and  unfortunately  both  bad.  Our 
cook  after  the  dinner,  at  which  he  seemed  to  be 
hugely  enjoying  himself,  when  A.  left,  asked  leave 


186    IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

to  go  across  the  river  to  testify  that  the  eldest  son 
was  not  over  here  at  the  time  of  the  robbery. 
The  farmer's  wife  was  serving  at  the  dinner, 
weeping  before  each  elder  in  turn.  The  farmer 
himself,  although  an  elder,  was  not  able  to  be 
present.  The  married  daughter,  whose  eyesight 
has  gone,  was  here  beforehand,  with  her  poor, 
sore,  running  eyes,  weeping  and  kneeling : 
"  Release  my  brother." 

Went  for  a  ride  in  the  afternoon,  and,  while 
sitting  on  a  hill-top  reading  the  disputes  in 
England  over  the  Home  Rule  Bill,  the  two 
coolies  thought  it  very  pleasant  to  sit  on  another, 
and  as  the  little  pony  had  been  rolling  about  on  a 
bank  of  bracken  with  his  saddle  on,  they  took  the 
saddle  and  bridle  and  bells  off.  Tarchendo  then 
rolled  to  his  heart's  content,  at  which  we  all 
laughed.  After  that  he  grazed  contentedly  for  a 
while,  till  the  idea  entered  his  head  at  last  that  he 
was  loose,  and  might  as  well  go  home.  Off  he 
went,  and  as  soon  as  he  got  into  the  path  he  set 
off  cantering,  and  I  expected  to  see  him  no  more 
till  I  should  find  him  tied  to  his  habitual  tree. 
The  old  man,  evidently  with  the  same  idea, 
loaded  himself  with  saddle  and  bells  to  carry 
home,  but  at  the  very  steep  turn  of  the  road  the 
soldier  coolie  caught  the  pony  and  brought  him 
back,  delighted  to  be  of  use  once  more.  Met  a 


LIFE  ON  A  FARMSTEAD  187 

great  flock  of  ducks — about  a  thousand — waddling 
along  the  road  in  three  detachments  on  the  way 
home.  Persimmons  are  in  season  now,  and  pears 
lasting  on.  As  a  rule  fruits  seem  only  to  be  in 
season  for  one  week  in  Chungking.  We  have 
also  had  chestnuts  three  times  now,  and  little 
green  oranges  are  being  handed  about,  which  our 
Boy  says  are  "  all  the  same  lemons."  Their  skin 
has  a  delicious  fragrance. 

September  25.  Where  the  Indian  corn  and 
tall  millet  waved,  when  we  arrived  three  months 
ago,  now  all  the  ground  has  been  dug  up  to 
receive  the  poppy  seed.  They  are  but  waiting 
for  the  rain  to  fall  to  put  in  it.  Each  day  looks 
more  threatening  than  the  last,  and  each  night  a 
few  drops  fall  as  if  the  heavy  black  sponge  above 
us  were  squeezed  by  an  invisible  hand,  but  so  far 
the  rain  holds  off.  This  time  last  year  we  were 
floating  down  the  rapids  of  the  river  from  Kiating 
in  rain  every  day.  It  must  come  soon,  and  we 
only  regret  Chungking  has  not  been  washed  out 
before  we  go  into  it.  People  have  had  the 
thermometer  ninety-seven  in  their  rooms  more 
than  once  this  last  week,  and  say  it  has  been  the 
most  trying  of  all  the  summer. 

Nothing  could  be  done  for  Hae  Ching's 
brother  yesterday  because  of  the  festival ;  but 
there  was  no  one  here  to  do  reverence  before  the 


i88     IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

ancestors'  tablets,  and  I  do  not  know  what  has 
become  of  all  the  letters  little  Hae  Ching  was 
directing,  instead  of  his  brother  in  prison,  this 
time.  But  I  went  to  see  the  D.'s  in  the  afternoon, 
and  found  their  table  all  spread  for  dinner,  two 
incense  sticks  burning  in  the  censer.  The  eldest 
son  of  their  house  came  in  and  reverenced,  and 
in  this  case  raised  each  pair  of  joss  sticks  to  a 
level  with  his  eyes,  which  I  had  not  seen  done 
before.  Then  the  feast  was  carried  off  to  some 
back  precincts  to  be  eaten.  It  was  a  little  dis- 
tressing presently  to  see  all  the  young  men  and 
even  boys  coming  away  with  such  very  swollen, 
flushed  faces  and  watery  eyes,  telling  plainly  of 
the  strong  drinks  of  which  they  had  partaken. 
And  when  walking  through  the  village  this 
seemed  pretty  general.  "All  the  same  your 
Christmas  time  "  a  Chinaman  would  say,  however. 
Our  coolies  asked  yesterday  whether  we  wanted 
them  to  come  in  and  salute  us  in  the  proper  Chinese 
fashion  at  this  season,  and  were  we  also  going  to 
present  them  with  five  hundred  cash  a-piece. 
The  way  the  two  questions  were  put  together  was 
highly  comic.  After  a  little  consultation  we 
decided  upon  a  thousand  cash  or  three  shillings 
between  the  three,  and  I  said  they  certainly  ought 
to  salute  us  according  to  the  Chinese  etiquette. 
So  they  came  in  and  knocked  their  foreheads  on 


D 
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2 

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K  o« 

H  H 
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oo 


LIFE  ON  A  FARMSTEAD  189 

the  floor.  The  Boy,  who  had  been  trained  in 
" barbarian"  Shanghai,  could  not  of  course  think 
of  doing  such  a  thing. 

October  6.  The  business  house  has  been 
moving  into  new  premises.  On  the  day  it  moved 
a  fire  was  piled  up  high  in  our  largest  charcoal 
pan.  This  was  tied  between  two  bamboo  poles, 
the  fire  lit,  and  then  carried  through  the  streets 
like  a  sedan  chair.  I  am  told  when  a  house  is 
bought  the  principal  beam  is  taken  out  of  the 
roof,  and  a  new  one  put  in,  lest  the  owner  should 
be  held  responsible  for  any  debts  contracted  by 
the  former  possessor,  and  the  like.  In  the 
evening  the  scene  was  very  pretty.  In  the  new 
house  there  is  courtyard  beyond  courtyard,  and 
there  were  innumerable  Chinese  lanterns  and 
lamps  hanging,  and  pots  full  of  flowers ;  the 
chairs  all  covered  with  red  cloth  embroideries,  a 
red  rug  on  the  floor  in  the  end  room  of  all,  and 
deep  red  kakemonos  hanging  all  round  on  the 
walls,  presented  for  the  occasion.  Everyone 
connected  with  the  Hong  was  in  full  dress,  high 
boots,  long  satin  overcoat  reaching  to  the  boots, 
official  cap  with  red  tassel.  They  all  came  and 
bowed  before  A.,  very  solemnly  stretching  their 
clasped  hands  down  to  their  knees,  then  raising 
them  quickly  up  to  their  mouths.  To  my  sur- 
prise they  came  into  the  inner  private  office,  into 


igo    IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

which  I  had  retired,  and  had  the  politeness  to 
repeat  the  same  ceremony  before  me.  There 
were  artistes  from  the  various  theatres  singing  in 
their  peculiar  fashion,  once  or  twice  rather  agree- 
ably, I  thought,  but  often  in  what  sounded  like  a 
series  of  harsh  and  yet  harsher  groans,  oftenest  of 
course  in  their  favourite  high  falsetto.  And  there 
were  many  guests,  all  of  whom  sat  down  to  supper 
at  little  tables  scattered  about.  That  was  on  the 
2Qth  September.  Now  for  four  days  there  is  a 
dinner  and  theatrical  performance  going  on  at  the 
Hunan  and  Hupeh  Guild,  the  finest  in  the  city. 
Yesterday  about  ninety  sat  down  to  dinner,  and 
I  fancy  there  were  all  the  principal  merchants 
there  ;  the  head  of  the  eight  guilds,  a  venerable 
man  with  a  white  beard,  said  to  be  eighty-nine, 
but  looking  in  very  good  case  for  seventy-two, 
sat  in  the  place  of  honour.  People  were  invited 
for  one  or  two,  but  I  think  the  guests  hardly 
arrived  before  four,  all  in  official  dress.  The 
dinner  was  about  six,  and  one  of  the  most  inter- 
esting sights  was  to  see  one  of  the  head  men  in 
the  business  go  round  to  each  guest  in  turn, 
bowing  solemnly  in  the  aforementioned  manner, 
which  the  guest  returned  in  like  style,  and  then 
conducting  him  at  least  part  of  the  way  to  his 
assigned  table,  pausing  in  going  to  pour  out  a 
glass  of  wine,  and  offer  it  before  the  altar,  also 


LIFE  ON  A  FARMSTEAD  191 

the  chop  sticks.  Before  that  began  he  poured 
out  two  libations,  one  before  and  one  behind,  and 
at  the  same  time  there  was  a  great  explosion  of 
crackers,  and  a  sort  of  tom-toming.  Slow  music 
was  played,  and  the  actors,  who  took  female  parts, 
now  came  round  in  red  robes  to  pour  wine  for  the 
guests.  Meanwhile  all  the  guests  and  people  of 
the  Hong  stood  in  a  crowd  at  either  side  watch- 
ing. Till  then  they  had  sat  at  little  tables,  sipping 
tea  and  smoking,  till  the  light  refreshment  before 
dinner  came  in  the  shape  of  two  dumplings  stuffed 
with  forced  meat  and  two  stuffed  with  sweets,  also 
a  bowl  of  soup.  The  entrance  of  the  more  dis- 
tinguished guests  was  also  rather  amusing,  for 
they  went  round  to  table  after  table,  making  the 
ceremonious  bow  and  smiling  all  over. 

I  sat  in  a  side  box  with  screens  all  round, 
the  wife  and  children  of  the  head  man  keeping 
me  company.  It  was  amusing  to  see  her  intense 
delight  when  she  saw  her  husband  conducting 
the  people  to  their  seats.  She  had  five  jackets 
on,  and  a  pretty  tea-green  silk  overskirt.  She 
and  her  boys  were  very  lively,  the  youngest, 
only  four,  was  always  inviting  me  to  drink  wine 
with  him  in  the  most  solemn  manner.  The 
native  wine  is  very  mild,  and  the  cups  very 
small,  but  I  fancy  this  precocious  child  would  be 
better  without  it.  The  actors  both  days  dis- 


192     IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

played  a  board  with  the  five  Happinesses  upon 
it,  turned  in  my  direction,  directly  I  appeared, 
although  I  was  supposed  not  to  be  seen.  They 
came  and  asked  A.  which  play  they  should  act. 
They  had  an  enormous  ivory  tusk  covered  with 
names ;  he  chose  one,  and  they  put  it  on  at  once. 
Of  course  there  is  no  scenery.  But  a  great 
variety  of  fine  clothes  has  to  be  got  out :  and 
what  memories  they  must  have  to  know  so  many 
pieces  so  well  as  to  need  no  preparation !  The 
populace  stood  below  in  the  courtyard,  enjoying 
the  spectacle  for  nothing,  and  very  much  they 
seemed  to  do  so.  One  man  had  brought  his 
basket  in,  and  stood  it  in  front  of  him.  Suddenly 
there  was  he  tearing  after  another  man,  who  was 
attempting  to  run  off  with  it !  No  one  else 
moved  in  the  crowd,  they  were  all  so  absorbed 
in  the  play.  The  opening  piece  yesterday  was 
supposed  to  be  appropriate  to  the  occasion,  about 
a  fisherman  so  kind  he  would  only  fish  with 
straight  hooks.  If  the  fish  were  fated  to  be 
killed  he  would  catch  them,  not  otherwise.  So 
the  Emperor  distinguished  him,  and  raised  him 
to  high  place  and  he  surrounded  the  throne  with 
none  but  good  men  and  true. 

To-day  the  audience  mostly  dealt  in  drugs, 
and  the  piece  was  laughable.  Meanwhile  the 
poor  eldest  son  of  the  farm  never  gets  out  of 


LIFE  ON  A  FARMSTEAD  193 

prison.  His  mother  comes  again  and  again,  and 
yesterday  got  another  ten  thousand  cash  lent  her, 
and  to-day  our  cook  was  ever  so  long  at  the 
magistrate's  yamen,  but  it  seems  some  one  must 
go  bail  and  the  person  willing  to  do  that  has  not 
yet  been  found. 

October  15.  Mr  R.  was  to  bring  his  two 
little  boys  to  breakfast  at  eight  o'clock  this  morn- 
ing, but  though  we  waited  half  an  hour  we  had 
long  ago  finished  when  they  appeared.  Breakfast 
was  brought  back,  but  they  also  had  long  finished, 
when  a  most  elegant  apparition  came  curtseying 
through  the  courtyard,  their  eldest  sister  of 
thirteen,  a  really  very  pretty  girl  in  her  to-day's 
toilette,  with  bright  brown  eyes,  and  a  graceful, 
alert  step,  in  spite  of  tiniest  feet.  But  then  the 
young  woman  was  rouged  and  powdered,  and 
her  lips  coloured  ;  all  her  hair  in  a  twist  on  the 
top  of  her  head  stuck  all  over  with  very  pretty 
pins,  made  of  imitation  pearls  and  blue  jay's 
feathers,  with  a  cap  (or  bonnet)  all  round  it,  jay's 
wings  and  jewels  ornamenting  this,  gold  pins 
fastening  her  hair  at  the  back,  three  bandeaux  of 
artificial  flowers  round  her  forehead,  whorls  of  them 
at  the  side  and  a  very  pretty  disposition  of  them 
down  the  back  of  her  head  and  neck.  She  wore  a 
lovely  rose  brocade  over-jacket  with  black  satin 
collar,  a  mauve  under-jacket,  which  did  not  show, 


194     IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

and  trousers  of  a  rather  richer  rose,  all  em- 
broidered too.  Her  little  sister  of  six  was  only 
a  little  less  elegantly  dressed,  and  with  her  cap 
and  long  black  silk  tassels  hanging  either  side 
of  her  face  looked  like  the  most  charming  doll, 
when  I  made  her  lie  back  in  one  of  our  chairs 
covered  with  a  goatskin  rug,  and  play  at  going 
to  sleep.  The  youngest  brother,  who  is  evidently 
the  pride  of  the  family,  had  the  same  criarde 
combination  of  colours  as  usual :  rose-coloured 
satin  hat,  purple  coat,  red  trousers,  and  his  hair 
cut  short  like  a  priest's. 

A  few  mornings  ago  A.  was  surprised  by  a 
visit  from  two  gentlemen,  whilst  we  sat  at  break- 
fast. One  was  number-four  young  master  of  the 
Yuen  family,  our  country  neighbours,  the  other 
an  ex-official,  just  returned  from  Peking.  It 
seemed  they  actually  wished  to  see  me,  so  they 
were  brought  upstairs.  And  the  ex-official  after 
a  little  while  said  it  would  be  so  nice  if  I  would 
give  his  sons  instruction  in  English.  I  asked 
what  age  they  were.  It  appeared  there  were 
two,  of  twelve  and  fourteen.  I  laughingly  said, 
"  Perhaps  they  would  be  afraid  of  me."  "  Oh, 
no ! "  Finally  I  agreed,  thinking  as  we  were 
soon  going  away  that  would  break  it  off  if  tire- 
some. To  my  horror  I  found  then  that  he  pro- 
posed that  they  should  come  and  live  in  our 


LIFE  ON  A  FARMSTEAD  195 

house,  as  his  home  was  out  by  the  Hoa  Ngai 
Monastery,  where  we  stayed  last  year,  about  a 
day's  journey  from  here.  I  said,  "  Perhaps  they 
would  get  into  mischief — English  boys  would ! 
Perhaps  they  would  break  things."  The  father,  a 
nice-mannered  man  with  a  very  grave,  gentle 
face,  seemed  greatly  shocked  at  this  idea.  But 
he  said,  if  I  liked,  he  would  take  a  room  for  them 
in  an  inn,  and  send  them  here  each  day  for  an 
hour  to  learn  English.  They  must  be  pursuing 
their  Chinese  studies  all  day  long  and  could  not 
consequently  get  into  any  mischief.  With  this 
he  went  away,  and  so  far  I  have  heard  no  more 
about  my  two  young  men,  whom  I  was  apparently 
to  teach  for  the  pleasure  of  doing  so.  A.  how- 
ever really  has  undertaken  Mr  S.'s  nice  elder 
son,  who  is  to  make  himself  useful  in  his  office — 
if  he  can.  The  little  fellow  of  five,  who  never 
speaks,  is  actually  said  already  to  know  two 
thousand  Chinese  characters.  It  is  terrible  to 
think  of. 

I  went  over  to  see  the  new  Hong  by  daylight 
the  other  day.  They  could  not  pay  me  much 
attention,  because,  taking  me  over  it,  someone's 
eye  was  caught  by  a  door  opening  on  to  an  out- 
side porch,  commanding  a  fine  view  all  over  the 
river.  The  door  from  this  to  the  house  was 
right  in  the  middle  of  it,  and  of  the  house,  thus, 


196    IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

as  they  said,  affording  most  easy  access  to  the 
demons.  And  everyone  was  full  of  suggestions 
as  to  what  should  be  done,  for  obviously  no  one 
could  expect  to  make  money  in  a  house  with 
demons  walking  straight  in  whenever  they  liked. 
I  recommended  a  leaf-shaped  door,  as  so  particu- 
larly curly-whirly,  but  was  evidently  considered 
frivolous.  So  I  went  on  to  see  the  part  of  the 
house  we  may  eventually  occupy.  It  is  inhabited 
now  by  four  Chinese  families  with  such  a  number 
of  women,  so  dirty  and  draggled-looking ;  one, 
the  principal  one,  with  a  big  wen  upon  her  fore- 
head. But  anything  to  equal  the  magnificence  of 
their  carved  and  gilded  bedsteads  I  never  did  see ! 
They  have  a  raised  ledge  at  the  side,  very  con- 
venient to  lay  the  quilt  on,  when  out  of  use,  or 
any  extra  coverings.  At  the  other  side,  that 
towards  the  room,  are  two  seats,  one  at  the  bed- 
head, one  at  the  foot.  On  these  the  Chinese 
sit  whilst  dressing  and  undressing,  laying  their 
clothing  mostly  on  the  bed  as  extra  covering. 
All  two  sides  of  the  room  were  lined  with  cup- 
boards, black  lacquered  with  drop  handles.  Seats 
without  backs  were  placed  against  these,  all  the 
length  of  them  ;  there  seemed  no  place  for  doing 
anything.  And  everything  except  the  furniture 
looked  so  squalid  and  dilapidated  I  do  not  know 
how  we  can  ever  live  there.  But  the  Hong  says 


LIFE  ON  A  FARMSTEAD  197 

the  house  could  be  done  up  for  a  small  outlay,  and 
has  a  little  garden,  an  immense  advantage. 

The  Hong,  greatly  to  my  surprise,  has  set  its 
heart  on  my  staying  here  when  A.  has  to  go 
down  river,  keeping  the  seals  and  the  money,  and 
generally  managing  the  business.  They  seem  to 
think  this  quite  natural,  and  what  a  Chinese  lady 
would  do. 

Nikko,  Japan,  August  3,  1894.  Thus  abruptly 
and  somewhat  sorrowfully  my  farm  diary,  begun 
with  such  a  light  heart,  came  to  an  end.  Perhaps 
it  was  owing  to  blood-poisoning  from  all  those 
dreadful  smells — the  doctor  said  it  was — perhaps 
it  was  grief  over  the  distress  we  had  brought  on 
others — it  well  might  have  been  ! — anyhow  I 
wrote  no  more.  And  yet,  even  in  China  things 
come  rather  right  in  the  end.  One  day  a  most 
wretched-looking,  emaciated,  red-eyed,  disfigured 
creature  threw  himself  in  the  dust  before  me,  and 
knocked  his  head  against  the  ground  repeatedly. 
I  hurried  away  from  him,  because  there  were  the 
farmer  and  his  wife  asking  A.  to  sit  down  and 
drink  wine  with  them  to  celebrate  the  release  of 
their  son  from  prison,  and  I  wanted  to  congratu- 
late them,  and  ask  how  he  was ;  then  with  a 
sudden  horror  realised  that  the  wretched  creature, 
who  had  just  knelt  before  me,  had  once  been  the 


ig8     IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

strong,  hearty  man,  who  used  always  to  call  out 
in  such  loud,  cheery  tones  :  "  Is  it  cool  enough 
for  you,  T'ai  t'ai  ? "  on  his  frequent  visits  to  his 
parents'  home.  We  felt  then,  seeing  him,  we 
could  not  take  part  in  the  feast  of  congratulation. 
But  he  is  a  Chinaman.  And  since  then  he  seems 
quite  to  have  got  over  his  torture  in  the  yamen. 
Our  things  have  been  recovered.  The  thieves 
have  been  exhibited  in  four  cages  outside  the 
farmhouse,  and  the  honour  of  the  farm  family  is 
intact  once  more.  Our  big  brute  of  a  coolie  dis- 
appeared without  his  wages  one  day.  He  was 
the  most  powerful  man  I  have  come  across  in 
these  parts.  But  he  had  stolen  someone's  jacket. 
And  though  it  was  recovered,  he  returned  no 
more.  Our  cook  has  married  a  Szechuan  woman 
after  all,  in  spite  of  all  his  wise  saws,  the  farmer's 
wife  playing  the  part  of  middle  woman.  A  new 
building  site  in  the  mountains  has  been  given  us, 
and  we  have  also  built  ourselves  a  dwelling-house 
in  the  country  on  the  river  bank,  and  thus  ends 
all  likelihood  of  our  again  living  in  a  Szechuan 
farmhouse.  The  homely  details  of  our  doings 
may,  however,  have  some  interest  for  those,  who 
like  to  realise  that  that  great  division  of  the 
human  race,  called  Chinese,  consists  not  only  of 
Chinamen  but  of  real  men  and  women  with  simple 
wants  and  wishes  not  after  all  so  unlike  our  own. 


OUR    NEW    PROPERTY   ON    THE    RIVER    BANK. 

Moored  beneath  the  house  is  ss.  Pioneer,  the  realisation  of  my  husband's  plans  and  labours  of  many 
years,  first  passenger  steamer  to  arrive  at  Chungking  (June  20,  1900,  the  day  the  German 
Minister  was  murdered  in  Peking),  and  since  converted  into  H.M.S.  Kinsha. 

[By? Mrs  Archibald  Little. 


CHINESE   LITTLE   BOYS. 


\ToJace  page  u 


CHAPTER  XII 

ANTI-FOREIGN  RIOTS    IN    WESTERN    CHINA 

T  T  is  a  question  whether  the  true  story  of  the 
Szu-chuan  riots  of  1895  w^  ever  be  known. 
No  inquiry  has  ever  been  made  into  any  of  the 
previous  riots  on  the  Yangtze — for  to  a  Chinese 
inquiry  no  one  who  has  resided  in  China  would 
attach  any  importance.     It  invariably  results  in  the 
beheading  of  a  few  needy  coolies,  a  condemnation 
of  the  behaviour  of  the  foreigners,   especially  if 
they  have  been  killed  and  cannot  speak  for  them- 
selves, the  persecution  of  all  those  who  have  stood 
their  friends,  and  the  removal — i.e.,  promotion — 
of  the  local  officials.     Ordinary  Chinese — that  is, 
the  man  in  the  street  and  his  like — said  these 
riots  were  neither  anti-Christian  nor  anti-foreign, 
but  all  to  "let  the  Emperor  know  and  Japan  man 
know,"  but  especially  the  Emperor,   "that  China 
man,   he    no   likee — too    muchee    cross."     Well- 
informed  foreigners  said  much  the  same — that  it 
was  all  a  bit  of  party  politics,  the  Hunan  men,  re- 
presented to  us  in  England  by  the  late  Marquis 
Tseng,  who  were  then  out  of  power,  wanting  to 

199 


200     IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

turn  out  the  Ngan-hui  men,  Li  Hung  Chang  and 
his  gang,  and  adopting  these  means  of  getting 
them  into  difficulties.  The  Hunan  men,  who 
may  be  called  the  patriotic  party,  are  naturally 
anti-foreign.  It  may  be  remembered  the  late 
Marquis  Tseng  could  never  return  to  Hunan  after 
his  friendliness  with  English  people  in  England. 

Whatever  was  the  cause,  somebody  put  out 
placards  towards  the  end  of  May,  1895,  and  the 
walls  of  Chentu  all  over  the  city  bore  this  legend  : 
"  Notice  is  hereby  given  that  at  the  present 
*  foreign  barbarians '  are  hiring  evil  characters  to 
steal  small  children  that  they  may  extract  oil  from 
them  for  their  use.  I  have  a  female  servant 
named  Li  who  has  personally  seen  this  done.  I 
therefore  exhort  you  good  people  not  to  allow 
your  children  to  go  out.  I  hope  you  will  act  in 
accordance  with  this." 

Now  in  judging  of  after  events  it  must  be 
remembered  that  to  a  Chinaman  there  is  nothing 
incredible  about  this  anonymous  placard.  Even 
the  most  enlightened  Chinamen,  educated  in 
America,  and  at  the  head  of  large  industrial 
concerns,  will  maintain  stoutly,  "  The  Roman 
Catholics  do  not  have  such  high  walls  and  closed 
doors  for  nothing " ;  whilst  a  manservant  of  a 
most  superior  kind,  who  had  spent  all  his  life  in 
English  (chiefly  Consular)  employ,  on  being  asked 


ANTI-FOREIGN  RIOTS  201 

by  his  mistress,  apropos  of  similar  reports  on  an- 
other occasion,  "  Surely  you  do  not  believe  them  ; 
you  know  master  and  me  ;  you  can't  believe  master 
would  take  out  small  children's  eyes  ?  "  drew  a  long 
breath,  and  then  honestly  replied,  "  My  no  savee." 
All  through  China  it  is  generally  believed 
foreigners  take  out  children's  eyes,  and  extract 
oil  for  photographs  and  worse  purposes. 

On  the  afternoon  of  May  28  the  Canadian 
Methodist  Mission  premises  at  Chentu  were 
attacked.  They  happened  to  be  nearest  the 
throwing  of  the  plums,  a  yearly  ceremony,  that  in 
Chentu  takes  the  place  of  the  dragon-boat  festival 
elsewhere.  A  member  of  the  Church  Mission 
had  come  in  from  his  outlying  station,  a  five  days' 
journey,  to  have  his  teeth  attended  to,  and  both  he 
and  the  doctor  were  weary  after  the  operation, 
when  they  found  themselves  suddenly  confronted 
by  an  angry  Chinese  mob.  Canadians,  like 
Americans,  always  have  firearms  handy,  whilst 
most  English  missionaries,  brought  up  from  child- 
hood in  highly-policed  England  and  unaccustomed, 
think  it  wrong  to  have  recourse  to  them.  The 
two  doctors  drove  the  crowd  back  once;  then, 
having  put  the  ladies  into  comparative  safety  in 
the  hospital  compound  next  door,  they  once  more 
kept  the  gate  for  nearly  two  hours,  with  their  arms 
visible  but  not  used,  whilst  they  sent  to  the 
o 


202     IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

officials  for  help.  Then  a  few  yamen  runners  and 
unarmed  soldiers  stepped  out  and  said  they  would 
disperse  the  mob,  on  which  the  doctors  went  to 
join  their  wives  and  children,  and  at  once  the  mob 
swept  past  the  yamen  runners  and  began  destroy- 
ing everything.  The  missionaries  next  tried  to 
hide  under  some  timber,  but  a  Chinaman  warned 
them  they  would  thus  be  burned  to  death.  Then, 
finding  the  back  gate  besieged,  they  fired  a  shot 
over  the  people's  heads,  through  the  top  of  the 
gateway.  This  was  a  most  fortunate  idea,  for  it 
not  only  dispersed  the  people  for  a  while,  but  also 
gave  a  means  of  exit. 

For  now  the  missionaries  found  they  must 
leave  the  premises,  and  through  the  hole  made  in 
the  gate  crept  out  four  adults  and  four  very  small 
children.  They  sought  refuge,  but  no  one  would 
give  it  to  them,  and  they  went  down  the  street 
amid  cries  of  "  Beat  them  to  death."  But  these 
cries  are  common  in  China  ;  we  in  the  interior  are 
mostly  hardened  to  them.  The  fugitives  then 
tried  to  get  into  some  barracks,  but  the  soldiers 
drove  them  away,  one  of  them  kicking  one  of  the 
ladies  ;  then  they  made  their  way  to  the  city  wall, 
all  but  the  Church  missionary,  who,  taking  a  wrong 
turning  in  the  dark,  got  separated  from  the  others 
and  eventually  reached  the  China  Inland  premises, 
and  one  of  the  children,  who  was  also  lost  for  a 


ANTI-FOREIGN  RIOTS  203 

time.  The  others  were  on  a  city  wall  till 
about  midnight,  and  from  there,  shoeless,  and 
not  knowing  what  might  not  happen  next,  they 
watched  their  compound  burning.  In  the  small 
hours  of  the  morning  chairs  were  sent  to  them 
and  took  them  to  the  China  Inland  Mission,  where 
they  rejoined  Mr  Jackson,  having  also  regained 
the  missing  child,  brought  back  to  them  by  a 
servant  from  another  part  of  the  city.  There  also 
they  were  joined  by  the  Rev.  G.  Hartwell  and  the 
ladies  of  the  China  Inland,  both  of  whose  houses 
were  already  destroyed.  The  people  in  the  street 
said  to  the  members  of  the  China  Inland,  "You 
have  been  here  over  ten  years  and  have  done 
good ;  no  one  will  touch  you  here."  The  mob, 
however,  began  to  collect,  and  one  of  the  number 
went  to  the  yamen  to  give  notice.  One  of  the 
American  Methodist  Episcopal  Mission  had 
already,  at  3  a.m.  on  the  29th,  taken  a  box  round 
to  the  magistrate's  yamen,  asking  him  at  least  to 
take  care  of  their  things  for  them,  but  had  had  to 
take  it  away  again,  being  assured  they  were  quite 
safe.  This  did  not,  however,  prevent  all  the 
foreigners  in  Chungkingfrom  meeting  there  the  next 
morning,  with  everything  destroyed  but  what  they 
stood  up  in.  Again  the  unfortunate  Canadians, 
now  accompanied  by  the  China  Inland,  had  to 
escape  by  the  back,  whilst  the  mob  surged  in  at 


204     IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

the  front  over  the  barricaded  doors.  This  time 
they  got  over  the  back  wall  by  ladders  into  a 
small  house,  and  by  giving  thirty  taels  (about 
four  pounds)  to  three  brothers  of  the  household, 
obtained  a  hiding-place  within  the  mosquito 
curtains  of  a  bed  in  a  back  room.  The  party 
consisted  of  some  six  adults  and  several  children. 
All  the  foreign  children  in  Chentu  were  under 
three  years  old ;  and  the  great  difficulty  was  to 
keep  these  children  quiet.  For  three  hours  in 
the  terrible  heat  of  a  very  early  Chinese  summer, 
they  were  thus  all  hidden  together,  not  daring  to 
speak  above  a  whisper,  whilst  their  premises  were 
being  looted  and  destroyed  within  a  few  feet  of 
them.  The  man  of  the  house  drew  his  bed  in 
front  of  the  door  and  lay  on  it,  smoking  opium, 
and  the  women  of  the  house  went  on  with  their 
usual  work,  as  though  nothing  had  happened,  till 
at  last  it  was  dark  enough  for  the  whole  party  to 
be  taken  in  chairs  to  the  yamen,  except  one  man, 
again  missing. 

The  latter  had  found  his  way  into  a  Chinese 
doctor's  house,  and  there  the  bright  idea  was  con- 
ceived of  passing  him  off  as  a  patient.  He  was 
muffled  up  in  a  red  and  blue  Chinese  hood,  then 
with  large  Chinese  glasses,  and  leaning  on  the 
shoulders  of  two  men,  he  was  supported  to  the 
door,  and  there,  in  the  very  midst  of  the  destroy- 


ANTI-FOREIGN  RIOTS  205 

ing  mob,  put  into  a  chair.  The  chair  coolies 
were  warned  that  he  was  a  man  so  sick  he  must 
die  within  the  year,  and  therefore  the  curtains 
must  be  kept  closely  drawn  that  not  a  breath  of 
air  might  touch  him  before  they  delivered  him  in 
the  magistrate's  yamen.  Thus  he  too  got  safe 
away. 

The  Americans,  only  about  three  hours  after 
their  return  from  the  yamen,  having  been  refused 
protection  for  their  valuables,  had  to  escape  over 
their  side  boundary  wall.  Had  they  gone  over 
their  back  wall  they  would  have  found  themselves 
in  the  hands  of  naked  robbers,  as  did  their  native 
helper,  who  had  to  pay  ten  taels,  or  over  a  pound, 
to  get  away.  Hidden  in  a  loft,  they  all  actually 
watched  the  destroying,  carrying  off,  and  burning 
of  their  property — one  a  bride  only  eleven  days 
arrived — until  at  last  the  dreadful  day  was  over, 
and  half  the  night ;  for  not  until  i  a.m.  did  the 
authorities  think  it  safe  to  take  them  to  the 
yamen. 

Just  after  Mass  on  May  29  the  Roman  Catho- 
lics received  a  letter  saying  that  all  foreigners 
were  to  be  attacked.  The  Bishop  applied  to  the 
Viceroy  by  letter,  his  yamen  being  next  door. 
Receiving  no  answer  he  went  to  the  Tartar 
General's  yamen,  meaning  to  ask  for  a  hundred 
soldiers.  He  was  not  allowed  to  enter,  but 


206    IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

received  with  insults  and  stoned.  "  Afterwards 
my  chair  was  overturned  and  my  bearers  beaten. 
I  was  obliged  to  get  away  as  best  I  could,  under 
a  hail  of  stones,  many  of  which  struck  me.  As  I 
was  making  off,  a  mandarin  amongst  the  crowd 
tried  to  strike  me  with  an  axe,  and  had  the  blow 
taken  effect  it  would  have  shorn  my  head  off.  I 
was  hurt  and  bruised  about  the  body  and  my 
head  was  cut,  nor  was  my  protector  (a  petty 
official)  without  many  injuries  from  stones  and 
sticks.  After  a  time  he  succeeded  in  escorting 
me  safely  to  a  small  yamen.  During  my  absence 
from  the  mission,  which  was  but  of  short  duration, 
the  mob  destroyed  the  Catholic  premises.  It  was 
all  over  so  quickly  that  the  Fathers  had  time  to 
save  nothing  but  a  few  papers,  everything  being 
over  in  an  hour  and  a  half,  when  all  the  furniture 
was  broken  and  the  various  establishments  were 
completely  looted ;  while  yet  the  buildings  were 
standing,  some  mandarins  appeared  on  the  scene 
and  easily  persuaded  the  mob  to  desist  and  go 
away ;  but  the  rioters  returned  in  a  few  minutes 
and  completed  their  work  by  pulling  down  the 
buildings.  While  this  was  going  on  the  Viceroy 
himself  passed  and  called  out  to  the  mob,  '  You 
can  pull  down  what  you  like  and  rob  what  you 
like,  but  do  not  burn  anything  est  you  should  set 
fire  to  the  neighbours'  houses.'  Hearing  this, 


ANTI-FOREIGN  RIOTS  207 

some  friends  of  ours  and  honest  men  among  the 
crowd  gave  up  the  efforts  which  up  till  this 
moment  they  had  been  making  on  our  behalf, 
and  went  away.  During  the  destruction  of  our 
property  the  tomb  of  Monseigneur  Dufresse,  one 
of  our  bishops  who  was  decapitated  by  the  Chinese 
seventy  years  ago,  was  broken  into.  The  skeleton 
of  the  martyr  was  torn  from  its  resting-place,  and 
the  poor  bones  were  carried  about  the  streets  by 
the  mob  for  the  purpose  of  further  infuriating  the 
people  against  us,  the  rioters  crying,  '  See,  here 
are  the  bones  of  some  of  the  people  the  mission- 
aries murdered ;  we  have  just  taken  them  from 
under  the  foreign  devils'  houses.'  Orphanages, 
churches,  and  all  our  houses  were  destroyed. 
There  is  now  not  one  stone  left  standing  on 
another. 

"  At  3  a.m.  on  the  3Oth  we  were  all  taken  in 
chairs  to  the  yamen,  where  we  found  eighteen 
English  and  American  missionaries,  including 
ladies  and  children,  who  were  all,  like  ourselves, 
poor  people,  beggars,  without  anything  left  to 
them  in  this  world.  The  mandarin  there  was 
sufficiently  polite,  but  the  accommodation  was 
horribly  insufficient.  Here  we  all  remained  till 
ist  June,  when  we  were  taken  to  the  Prefect's 
yamen,  from  which  I  am  now  writing  to  you." 

Thus,  thirty-one  foreigners,  British,  American 


208     IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

and  French,  were  together  on  May  30  and  31, 
all  homeless  and  destitute.  A  telegram  was  sent 
to  the  British  Consul  at  Chungking,  and  the  news 
got  through  to  Peking.  Otherwise  what  further 
might  not  have  happened  to  them  ?  Directly 
the  Viceroy  heard  of  the  telegram  he  sent  to  the 
operators  to  stop  it — happily  too  late.  After  that 
foreigners  were  told  the  wires  were  broken. 
Meanwhile,  what  with  the  bones  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  bishop  and  the  blood  of  a  fowl  someone 
had  killed  and  sprinkled  on  the  walls,  the  people 
were  kept  in  a  frenzy  of  excitement,  till  they 
threatened  to  wreck  the  yamen  and  kill  the 
foreigners. 

Worse  than  this,  a  beggar  boy  was  brought 
to  the  yamen  with  his  tongue  cut  out,  and  this 
was  said  to  be  the  work  of  the  missionaries.  The 
boy's  tongue  being  cut  out  he  could  tell  no  tales. 
No  mere  mob  would  have  ventured  on  this  act 
of  brutality.  Tins  of  milk  were  shown  about 
the  streets,  said  to  contain  the  brains  of  young 
children  pounded  up,  on  which  the  missionaries 
battened.  In  the  midst  of  all  this  one  of  the 
ladies  was  prematurely  confined.  There  was  a 
plethora  of  medical  assistance  within  the  yamen, 
but  not  a  drug,  not  a  rag,  not  even  a  pin  amongst 
them.  Then  by  one  of  the  most  extraordinary 
chances  one  of  the  doctors,  allowed  to  go  out, 


ANTI-FOREIGN  RIOTS  209 

saw  a  man  passing  by  with  his  hands  all  white 
and  a  bottle.  It  was  carbolic,  carried  off  from 
the  doctor's  own  hospital,  and  the  man  having 
burnt  his  hands  with  it  was  glad  to  sell  it. 
Humanly  speaking,  but  for  this  carbolic  the  poor 
lady  could  not  have  survived,  the  heat  being  so 
abnormal  as  it  was  that  June  in  the  west  of 
China.  It  was  all  the  medical  stores  the  whole 
party  had  for  the  next  three  weeks. 

It  was  on  May  29,  whilst  the  burning  and 
sacking  were  in  full  swing,  the  Taotai  Cheo  put 
out  the  following  proclamation  with  his  name  : — 
1  'At  the  present,  we  have  obtained  clear  proof 
that  the  foreigners  deceive  and  take  small  chil- 
dren. You  soldiers  and  people  must  not  be  dis- 
turbed and  flurried.  When  the  cases  are  brought 
before  us  we  certainly  will  not  be  lenient  with 
them."  On  the  3Oth  the  following  anonymous 
placard  appeared:  "At  the  present  time,  when 
Japan  has  usurped  Chinese  territory,  you  English, 
French,  Americans  have  looked  on  with  your 
hands  in  your  sleeves.  If  in  the  future  you  wish 
to  preach  your  doctrine  in  China  you  must  drive 
the  Japanese  back  to  their  own  country,  then  you 
will  be  allowed  to  preach  your  Holy  Gospel 
throughout  this  country  without  let  or  hindrance." 
And  on  the  3Oth,  at  last  the  Governor-General 
put  out  his  proclamation  : — 


2io    IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

"I,  the  Governor- General,  have  heard  that 
yesterday  at  the  '  Twan-yang '  feast,  according  to 
the  custom  of  the  province,  crowds  of  men  and 
women  assembled  to  witness  the  scattering  of 
fruit,  also  that  foreigners  having  gone  to  witness  it 
(this  was  not  true,  none  had)  trouble  was  caused 
and  the  chapels  were  destroyed.  It  is  certain 
that  evil  characters  have  been  stirring  up  trouble 
in  order  to  steal  and  rob. 

"You,  my  good  people,  should  each  follow 
his  own  vocation,  and  should  you  have  any 
grievance  you  may  petition  the  officials  of  the  two 
districts,  Chentu  and  Hwa-yang,  and  I  will  justly 
decide  without  any  partiality.  You  may  by  no 
means  recklessly  help  forward  these  evil  men  and 
get  yourselves  caught  in  a  net.  Let  them  be 
punished  by  the  law !  For  those  who  assemble 
evil  characters  let  there  be  no  leniency;" 

On  the  3ist,  when  it  is  to  be  assumed  he  had 
heard  from  Peking,  martial  law  was  proclaimed. 
"  Whereas  a  number  of  evil  characters  have 
assembled,  scattering  evil  rumours,  I  have  already 
memorialised  the  Emperor,  and  you  may  put 
them  to  death  without  discussion." 

Not  till  eleven  days  after  the  riots  were  the 
missionaries  allowed  to  leave  the  yamen.  Then 
the  British  and  Americans  were  conducted, 
again  at  one  o'clock  in  the  morning,  to  the 


ANTI-FOREIGN  RIOTS  211 

Min  River,  two  or  three  officials  and  six  small 
boatloads  of  soldiers  going  with  them  as  escorts. 
One  of  the  China  Inland  Mission  had  telegraphed 
to  the  British  Consul  at  Chungking  for  permission 
to  remain  in  Chentu.  But  the  officials  had  refused 
to  send  the  telegram. 

The  Church  Missionary,  Mr  Jackson,  was 
most  carefully  escorted  back  to  his  station,  dressed 
as  a  Chinese  official,  with  official  cap,  long  boots, 
etc.,  and  given  a  grand  chair,  which  he  was 
requested  never  to  leave,  also  so  grand  an  escort 
that  it  nearly  caused  a  commotion  when  he  arrived. 
He  was  given  dark  spectacles,  requested  to  dye 
his  moustache,  and  his  escort  were  told,  if  asked 
who  he  was,  always  to  answer,  "A  Chinese 
official  going  to  meet  the  incoming  Viceroy." 
For  one  of  the  peculiarities  of  the  position  was 
that  the  Viceroy  Liu,  one  of  Li  Hung  Chang's 
special  friends,  was  already,  when  all  the  trouble 
occurred,  degraded,  and  his  successor  expected. 
The  boat  party  from  Chentu  reached  Chungking 
safely,  and  arrived  at  Ichang  just  about  a  month 
after  they  had  been  driven  out  homeless.  Some 
man-of-war  is  generally  at  Ichang,  a  thousand 
miles  up  the  Yangtze  ;  but  there  was  none  even 
there  then. 

On  Sunday,  June  2,  the  houses  of  the  Church 
Mission  and  the  China  Inland  were  attacked  at 


212     IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

Kwan  Hsien  ;  a  few  things  were  stolen,  but  help 
arrived  from  the  yamen.  At  Sin  Tu  Hsien  a 
house  belonging  to  missionary  ladies  was  attacked  ; 
they  escaped  by  the  back  door,  but  no  one  would 
take  them  in.  At  first  the  magistrate  would  do 
nothing,  but  at  last  he  dispersed  the  mob,  and  the 
ladies,  according  to  the  latest  news,  were  living 
with  a  guard. 

Three  ladies  of  the  China  Inland  were  visiting 
at  Kiong-cheo,  where  the  large  Roman  Catholic 
premises  were  wrecked.  A  man  stepped  out  of 
the  crowd,  and  beginning  to  sharpen  a  large  knife 
he  carried  on  the  flat  stone  at  the  ladies'  door,  he 
forbade  the  people  to  touch  them,  saying  they 
were  good  women,  and  at  last  so  cleared  the 
people  away  that  one  of  the  ladies  with  a  Chinese 
woman  ventured  to  the  yamen  to  ask  for  assist- 
ance, but  only  to  be  refused  admittance.  The 
Chinese  woman  on  this  set  up  a  loud  crying,  and 
said  they  would  die  there  before  the  door  if  refused 
protection,  they  would  never  go  away,  till  at  last 
they  were  let  in,  to  find  the  magistrate  trembling 
with  fear.  The  man  with  the  knife,  meanwhile, 
got  chairs  for  the  other  ladies,  and  three  of  the 
rioters  escorted  them  to  the  official's  residence. 

On  June  4,  at  Kiating,  the  lovely  city  where 
join  the  waters  of  the  rivers  Tung,  Ya  and  Min, 
the  latter  coming  down  from  Chentu,  the  three 


ANTI-FOREIGN  RIOTS  213 

houses  of  the  Church  Mission,  American  Baptist 
Mission,  and  China  Inland  were  looted  and 
partially  destroyed,  also  the  Roman  Catholic 
Mission.  The  ladies  again  escaped  over  the  wall 
at  the  back,  but  some  of  the  men  were  very 
roughly  handled.  Two  members  of  the  China 
Inland,  with  their  young  child,  were  in  the  country 
at  the  time  ;  they  heard  of  a  plot  to  kill  them,  so 
thought  it  prudent  to  return.  On  arriving  at 
Kiating  the  captain  of  their  boat  ordered  them  to 
leave  it.  They  then  found  a  man  with  a  drawn 
sword  at  the  door  of  the  cabin.  Everything  was 
taken  from  them,  and  no  house  would  receive 
them  ;  thus  hand  in  hand  the  father  and  mother, 
with  their  little  child,  had  to  run  the  gauntlet  of 
the  howling  crowd,  to  find  their  mission  premises 
a  wreck,  and  be  taken  in  by  the  charity  of  three 
old  women,  who  kept  them  safe  till  it  was  dark 
and  they  could  rejoin  the  other  foreigners  in  the 
yamen. 

At  Lu  Chow  the  China  Inland  premises  were 
damaged  and  broken  into,  but  not  destroyed. 
At  Sui-fu,  where  the  three  rivers  that  meet  at 
Kiating  join  the  great  Yangtze,  a  very  important 
city,  the  officials  by  their  prompt  action  stopped 
the  riot  after  the  houses  of  the  American  Baptist 
Mission  had  been  destroyed  and  they  had 
escaped  in  boats.  Some  of  the  China  Inland 


214     IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

Mission  tried  to  remain,  but  when  the  magistrate 
told  them  he  could  no  longer  protect  them  either 
in  his  yamen  or  elsewhere  they  also  got  into 
boats.  And  here  a  most  unexpected  and 
pleasant  meeting  occurred.  The  American 
Baptist  missionaries  at  Ya-cheo,  the  centre  of  the 
great  brick  trade  with  Tibet,  finding  all  their  com- 
munications were  cut,  and  thinking  that  as  soon 
as  the  news  of  the  Chentu  riot  reached  Ya-cheo 
a  riot  was  likely  to  break  out  there  too,  thought 
it  wisest  to  try  to  put  their  women  and  children 
in  safety.  In  the  small  hours  of  the  morning 
they  stole  away  like  culprits  from  the  sleeping 
city  they  had  entered  with  such  high  hopes  not 
quite  a  year  before,  and  with  an  armed  guard 
got  on  to  one  of  the  bamboo  rafts,  that  are  the 
only  means  of  descending  the  extremely  pretty 
river  Ya.  On  their  way  down  they  passed  one 
and  another  Roman  Catholic  station  being  de- 
stroyed. Arrived  at  Kiating,  they  found  all  the 
missionaries  still  afraid  to  leave  the  yamen,  and 
had  already  suffered  such  rude  treatment  from 
their  own  guard,  one  of  them  having  been 
attacked  indeed  by  a  soldier  with  a  big  stone, 
that  they  were  delighted  to  find  the  opportunity 
of  changing  from  their  raft  into  a  boat  without 
anyone  knowing  anything  about  them.  But  now 
arrived  at  Sui-fu  they  dared  not  moor  there 


ANTI-FOREIGN  RIOTS  215 

several  Chinese  coming  up  river  having  warned 
them  not  to  do  so,  and  yet  their  boat  could  not 
venture  on  the  great  Yangtze,  when  suddenly 
someone  espied  a  large  boat  on  the  other  side 
of  the  stream.  This  turned  out  to  contain  the 
China  Inland  missionaries  of  the  place,  who  were 
just  as  relieved  as  those  from  Ya-cheo,  as  the 
one  set  could  not  proceed  for  want  of  ready 
money,  the  others  for  want  of  a  boat.  And  the 
meeting  was  the  more  fortunate,  as  presently 
armed  boats  came  off  and  attacked  them,  but 
on  being  confronted  with  a  Winchester  in  the 
hands  of  a  determined  American  soon  cleared  off 
again.  These  armed  men  would  not  have  been 
let  off  so  easily  had  the  fugitive  party  known, 
what  was  the  truth,  that  when  the  American 
Baptist  Mission  took  to  their  boats,  leaving  one 
of  their  number  behind  with  money  and  supplies 
for  those  coming  from  further  up  river,  the  single 
man  thus  left  behind  unarmed  had  been  attacked 
by  these  armed  men  and  stripped  not  only  of 
everything  he  had  for  the  others,  but  everything 
he  had  himself;  his  life  had  been  threatened,  and 
for  some  time  he  had  hung  on  underneath  his 
boat  whilst  the  Chinese  prodded  for  him  with 
long  spears. 

The  British  Consul  recalled  the  lady  mission- 
aries from  Lu-chow,  and  the  magistrate  sealed  up 


216     IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

their  door  and  put  a  guard  in  front,  as  also  at 
the  Roman  Catholic  premises. 

The  Roman  Catholics  heard  in  very  early 
days  that  their  priests  had  been  driven  out  of 
twenty  stations  in  the  province,  their  churches 
destroyed,  and  that  in  many  cases  their  Chinese 
Christians  were  being  plundered.  At  Pen  Shan 
and  at  Sin  King  their  missions  were  wrecked,  as 
also  their  large  college  about  ten  miles  from 
Sui-fu.  From  some  of  the  more  distant  places 
it  must  take  some  time  for  them  to  hear. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

FURTHER   ALARMS    OF    RIOTS 

IN  July  1895,  when  we  heard  the  Taotai,  who 
had  so  determinedly  adopted  every  means 
within  his  power  of  enforcing  order,  was  sum- 
moned to  Peking,  when  we  saw  the  grand  arches 
at  the  Gate  of  Great  Peace  to  welcome  the 
Viceroy  coming  from  Chentu,  and  did  not  know 
who  might  not  come  in  his  train,  but  knew  that 
Chentu  was  once  again  placarded  with  anti- 
foreign  placards,  although  there  was  no  longer 
a  foreigner  there,  we  felt  as  if  we  had  good  reason 
to  feel  afraid.  The  examinations  were  to  begin 
in  five  days.  People  said,  though  it  seems  in- 
credible, that  twenty  thousand  students  or  there- 
abouts might  be  expected.  That  means  at  least 
sixty  thousand  men,  mostly  between  nineteen  and 
thirty,  might  be  expected  in  Chungking  in  the 
course  of  the  next  few  days,  counting  them  and 
their  attendants.  Many  of  them  would,  of  course, 
be  believing  the  bad  reports  that  had  been  lately 
placarded  about  foreigners,  many  must  be  at 
least  a  little  excited  by  the  thought  of  how 
p  217 


2i8     IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

American  and  English  men  had  scuttled  and  run 
before  them.  It  must  be  conceded  we  nations  of 
the  West  had  hardly  taken  up  a  dignified  position 
in  the  west  of  China,  and  that  it  would  be  hard 
for  any  Government  to  ensure  order  amongst 
such  a  band  of  new-comers,  men  who  had  heard 
all  about  the  riots,  and  could  not  thereby  have 
been  led  to  feel  more  afraid  of  foreigners. 
There  was,  however,  the  proclamation  : — 
"  Whereas  a  number  of  evil  characters  have 
assembled  scattering  evil  rumours,  I  have  already 
memorialised  (the  Emperor)  and  you  may  put 
them  to  death  without  discussing  (the  matter)." 
Thus  under  the  protection  of  Chinese  martial  law 
we  read  quietly  that  there  was  no  idea  even  of 
England's  sending  us  any  assistance  nearer  than 
Ichang,  a  month's  journey  away.  Nor  would 
there  have  been  any  need  for  protection  had  the 
British  government,  when  opening  this  port,  asked 
what  then  the  Chinese  were  most  ready  to  grant, 
that  there  should  be  a  concession  set  apart  for 
foreigners,  they  saying  that  it  would  be  easier  to 
protect  them  thus,  as  is  most  obvious.  We  on 
on  the  other  hand  wished  for  a  concession,  be- 
cause if  but  a  few  of  us  lived  together,  we  could 
protect  ourselves.  As  it  was,  there  was  no  talk 
even  of  defending  women  and  children  in  Chung- 
king, should  anything  occur,  the  women,  feeling 


FURTHER  ALARMS  OF  RIOTS  219 

long  before  that  they  would  but  handicap  the 
men,  had  all  made  ready  to  go  down  before 
martial  law  was  proclaimed.  The  children  no 
longer  came  to  school,  the  sick  no  longer  came 
to  the  dispensaries,  everyone  shunned  them 
except  their  few  trusty  Chinese,  who  implored 
them  to  fly  while  there  was  yet  time.  It  may 
be  fancied  how  each  mission  called  its  committee, 
settled  which  man  was  most  needing  a  change, 
and  had  therefore  better  go  down  in  charge  of 
the  ladies,  and  how  the  poor  ladies  packed,  select- 
ing which  treasures  must  be  left  for  the  mob. 
Of  course,  in  every  case  the  senior  missionaries 
were  to  remain,  and  equally  of  course  their  wives 
had  to  settle  who  were  to  share  boats,  and  what 
each  should  take  when  they  started  next  morning, 
and  then  arrived  the  weekly  prayer  meeting. 
Already  there  had  been  those  terrible  weeping 
adieux  of  the  Chinese  Christians  and  inquirers, 
the  friendly  few.  Very  little  was  said  at  the 
prayer  meeting — people  felt  too  much,  "-for  we 
knew  we  should  think  a  riot  was  happening,  and 
our  husbands  in  danger  all  the  time,  if  we  went 
away  and  left  them,"  said  one  lady.  "  So  I  was 
afraid  to  speak  to  Mrs—  — ,  because  I  knew  she 
was  feeling  the  same,  and  we  sat  side  by  side 
and  said  nothing  to  each  other,  till  at  last  she 
said  to  me,  '  Someone  said  you  wanted  to  speak 


220     IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

to  me.'  Then  I  asked  her  what  she  would  pro- 
vide, and  that  made  us  feel  better,  just  settling. 
She  thought  we  ought  to  take  no  beds  for  fear 
of  rousing  suspicion,  but  just  rugs  to  lay  on  the 
floor." 

Next  day,  quite  early  it  seems,  it  was  that 
most  militant  agent  of  the  Scotch  Bible  Society, 
who  rode  round  upon  the  wonderful  horse  that 
carried  him  to  Bhamo  and  back  and  still  thrives — 
so  many  horses  die  on  that  journey — and  told  the 
ladies  martial  law  was  proclaimed,  and  he  thought 
they  might  stay  now.  They  had  packed  what 
they  dared  take  and  put  their  boxes  in  the  boats, 
thinking  they  could  get  on  board  more  quietly 
in  the  night ;  some  who  were  joining  fugitives 
from  Sui-fu  had  already  gone  down  river,  for 
the  Consul  would  permit  no  fugitives  to  remain 
from  other  places  in  Chungking.  As  the  days 
went  by  the  Chinese  began  to  say  the  authorities 
were  so  vigilant  now,  they  thought  it  was  safe 
to  remain.  So  after  a  while  the  women  got  their 
boxes  back.  But  the  boats  still  were  there  wait- 
ing till  the  examinations  should  be  over,  and  we 
had  all  learnt  whether  we  might  hope  to  pass  the 
summer  there,  or  had  got  to  fly  shoeless,  as  people 
always  seem  to  do  in  riots. 

Let  any  one  picture,  if  they  can,   what  was 
still  the  life  of  those  shut   up   at  the  yamen  at 


FURTHER  ALARMS  OF  RIOTS  221 

Kiating.  Some  members  of  the  China  Inland 
Mission  had  arrived  in  Chungking  after  a  month 
there.  It  is  a  small  space,  of  course,  with  no 
outlook,  not  even  protection  from  the  sun. 
Those  who  fled  there  lost  all  they  had.  There  is 
a  little  courtyard  in  which  they  could  take  exer- 
cise, that  is  all. 

It  was  on  June  4,  during  the  examinations 
there,  the  missionary  houses  were  looted  and 
plundered,  one  of  the  men  nearly  torn  in  two  by 
the  mob  catching  hold  of  his  girdle  at  both  ends, 
and  all  as  we  understand  more  or  less  roughly 
handled.  Englishmen  are  far  too  manly  not  to 
admire  the  courage  of  the  women,  who,  after 
passing  through  a  hustling  like  that,  held  out  in 
their  confinement  of  already  a  month  and  a  half. 
It  is  a  thing  no  man  would  like  to  go  through,  and 
women's  nerves  are  apt  to  give  way  sooner  than 
men's.  Yet  they  held  out,  though  whether  it  is 
wise  to  expose  them  to  such  a  strain  is  a  question. 
One  difficulty  is  if  people  go  down  from  Chung- 
king they  cannot  return  till  October,  because  the 
river  is  at  its  height  in  summer.  And  even  after 
that  the  journey  up  from  Ichang  takes  nearly  a 
month,  and  to  Kiating,  even  if  you  brave  an 
overland  journey,  you  cannot  get  in  less  than 
about  a  fortnight  more. 

It  is  true  that  none  were  killed,  and  so  people 


222     IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

may  think  that  those  in  Chungking  were  need- 
lessly alarmed.  The  Chentu  men,  women  and 
children  all,  however,  witnessed  from  their  hiding- 
places  the  burning,  plundering  mob,  and  from  the 
expressions  they  seem  to  have  little  doubt  of  what 
would  have  happened  had  they  not  escaped  to  the 
yamen  before  the  plundering  was  over.  That 
absorbed  the  crowd  for  a  time.  The  yamen  was 
threatened  and  as  it  seems  only  owes  its  safety  to 
the  telegram  sent  to  the  Chungking  Consul— 
which  the  Viceroy  sent  to  the  telegraph  clerks  to 
stop — but  happily  just  too  late,  after  it  had  gone 
out.  But  for  that  telegram  we  should  probably 
have  no  difficulty  in  realising  the  state  of  anxiety 
of  those  within  the  yamen,  who  did  not  know  the 
riots  would  so  far  pass  off  without  anyone  being 
killed. 

The  Roman  Catholic  Bishop,  the  last  to 
escape  to  the  yamen,  had  been  sufficiently  roughly 
handled  by  the  mob,  as  his  attire  and  bearing 
showed,  when  he  came  running  in  and  ran  right 
through  the  rooms  set  apart  for  men,  and,  flying 
still,  through  the  rooms  given  to  the  ladies.  He 
had  stayed  at  his  post  to  the  very  last.  It  was 
clear  it  was  till  the  very  last,  if  he  were  to  escape 
at  all. 

There  is  another  fact  to  be  remembered.  We 
have  in  West  China  a  good  many  American  and 


FURTHER  ALARMS  OF  RIOTS  223 

Canadian  missions,  and  the  men  of  these  missions, 
being  accustomed  to  carry  firearms,  carry  them 
and  use  them.  But  for  a  Winchester  a  very 
different  story  might  be  told  of  one  escape  at 
least.  In  all  the  riots  so  far  there  have  been 
Americans  or  Canadians  somewhere  about,  and 
had  it  not  been  so,  we  still  cannot  tell  what  might 
not  have  occurred.  As  Captain  Bower  said,  the 
Chinese  are  not  brave  before  determined  men 
with  firearms. 

On  July  26th  I  wrote :  The  men  of  the 
Customs  still  go  to  and  fro  with  loaded  revolvers  ; 
the  Consul,  if  he  comes  to  tea,  only  lays  his 
revolver  down  with  his  hat ;  the  missions,  Quakers 
included,  have  a  guard  of  ten  Chinese  soldiers  to 
each  household,  each  man  paid  fifty  cash  a  day. 
The  gay  little  pavilions  still  stand  at  the  Gate  of 
Great  Peace,  only  the  late  Viceroy,  in  whose 
honour  they  were  erected,  is  expected  no  more. 
He  got  away  from  Chentu  at  last,  he  passed 
Kiating,  he  passed  Sui-fu,  and  his  boats  floated 
proudly  on  the  bosom  of  the  great  Yangtze,  but 
arrived  at  Luchow,  the  next  town  to  this,  he  was 
forced  to  turn  round  and  go  back  every  inch  of 
the  two  rivers  to  Chentu.  Great  is  the  rejoicing. 
He  must  be  made  to  pay,  say  the  Chinese.  He 
must  be  made  to  suffer  the  penalty  of  his  sins,  say 


224     IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

the  foreigners.  If  only  he  is  punished  properly 
we  shall  never  have  another  riot  in  Szechuan,  say 
Roman  Catholic  Chinese  exultantly.  But  will  he 
be  punished  ?  No  word  of  what  England  thinks 
or  cares  has  reached  us  yet,  and  it  is  two  months 
all  but  two  days  since  the  rising  in  Chentu.  Nor 
can  we  doubt  there  would  have  been  just  the  same 
here,  but  for  the  energy  of  our  Consul,  Mr  E.  H. 
Eraser,  and  the  vigilance  of  the  Chinese  officials. 
"  The  Roman  Catholics  seem  to  have  had 
over  forty  stations  destroyed  in  this  province. 
Yet  not  a  Frenchman  has  left  the  West.  '  Pas 
un !  Ni  pour  cause  de  maladies,  ni  pour  affaires 
particulieres,  ni  pour  aller  a  Peking!  Pas  un 
seul,'  says  the  Procureur,  somewhat  proudly. 
Four,  however,  among  them,  one  a  Count  at 
home  in  France,  have  been  driven  away  from 
their  stations  in  those  distant  parts  beyond  the 
Chienchang  Valley,  and  so  effectively  that  for 
forty  days  they  had  to  fly  over  mountain  passes 
and  "by  little-trodden  paths  till  they  found  a 
refuge  at  last  only  across  the  border,  in  the 
capital  of  Yunnan,  Yunnanfu.  It  is  to  be  hoped 
some  day  they  may  give  us  the  details  of  this 
Lent-long  flight.  Other  priests  have  been  taking 
refuge  in  Chinese  huts,  in  yamens,  moving  from 
place  to  place,  but  not  one  has  left  his  post,  but 
for  these  four  driven  out  of  the  province.  Even 


FURTHER  ALARMS  OF  RIOTS  225 

on  the  borders  of  Tibet,  an  outlying  station  of 
Tachienlu  has  been  rioted.  One  priest  some- 
where— Chinese  names  are  so  hard  to  remember 
—saved  his  beautiful  church.  He  got  a  dozen 
spears,  and  telling  a  dozen  Chinese  to  point  them 
at  the  enemy,  threw  his  doors  wide  open,  and 
invited  the  rioters  to  come  in.  They  saw  the 
twelve  spears,  and  before  that  sight  hundreds 
dispersed. 

"  There  are  strange  tales  the  Chinese 
Christians  might  tell.  Many  of  them  were  very 
well  to  do,  well  conducted,  prosperous.  They 
have  not  been  plundered  at  Chentu.  But  in 
other  outlying  places  they  have  lost  all,  or  well- 
nigh  all.  And  all  knew  the  fate  threatening  them. 
One  can  fancy  the  scene  at  Hoang-mu-chang,  a 
market-village  described  by  my  husband  in  his 
Mount  Omi  and  Beyond,  built  on  a  breezy 
plateau,  a  very  deep  defile  on  one  side,  on  the 
other  the  foaming  Tung  between  it  and  the  lofty 
Lolo  Mountains  ;  at  the  back,  a  pass  ten  thousand 
feet  high  or  thereabouts,  over  which  you  go  to 
Fulin  and  the  Chienchang  Valley,  if  you  are  coming 
from  the  east.  It  is  on  the  regular  route  of  the 
cruelly-laden  salt  carriers  between  Kiating  and 
Fulin.  The  pagans,  shall  we  call  them,  hearing 
the  news  of  the  fine  times  at  Chentu — in  every 
case  riots  arose  as  the  news  was  sent  forward — 


226     IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

rose  against  the  Christians,  and   the    Christians 
defended   themselves  with   stones   for   over   two 
hours.     Then   the  leading  man  of  the   place,   a 
Christian,  called  out  aloud,  '  We  have  had  enough 
of  stones.     Let  us  get  our  guns,'  and  before  that 
threat  the  pagans  dispersed.     It  is  a  long,  hard 
day's  journey  from  Hoang-mu-chang  to  Ta-tien- 
tze — described  both  by  Mr  Little  and  Mr  Pratt, 
and  I  think  mentioned  by  Baber — both  are  under 
the   same  priest.     But  he  .resides  at   the  former 
place,  and  only  comes  once  a  year  to  Ta-tien-tze, 
where  the  people  have  built  him  a  house  in  which 
to   live  and  hold  services.      This   house   is   the 
pride  of  the  whole  well-to-do  village  and  has  been 
several  times  lent  to  travellers,  Ta-tien-tze  lying 
at  the  foot  of  the  wondrous  Sai-king-shan,  one  of 
the  remarkable  flat-topped  mountains,  sacred  as 
Omi.     The  Christians  of   Hoang-mu-chang  sent 
a  messenger  across  the  mountains  to  Ta-tien-tze, 
which  is  altogether  Christian,  and  the  men  of  the 
place  assembled  in  a  house  commanding  the  one 
path  between  the  two  places.     What  the  hand- 
some, rosy-cheeked,  bright-eyed  women  and  girls 
did  meanwhile,   report   sayeth    not,   but   we   can 
fancy  that   they   applauded   as   the  rabble  band 
came  on  intent  on  plunder,  and  the  men  of  Ta- 
tien-tze  fired  and  killed  eleven  of  their  assailants. 
In  how  many  remote    villages  have    not  similar 


FURTHER  ALARMS  OF  RIOTS  227 

encounters  taken  place,  but  rarely  so  effectively, 
for  Ta-tien-tze — with  its  three  girls'  schools,  and 
unforgetable  honey  in  the  honeycomb,  sweet  with 
the  fragrance  of  the  mountain  flowers — Ta-tien- 
tze  was  saved.  At  Sui-fu  men  were  killed,  but 
by  the  rioters  themselves.  In  their  greed  to  loot 
the  large  college,  three  miles  from  the  town,  men 
climbed  upon  the  roof  and  seized  the  timbers ; 
some  fell,  and  six  rioters  are  reported  killed. 
How  was  it  known  that  a  large  sum  in  money  had 
just  been  sent  from  Chungking  to  this  college  ? 
How  was  it  known  that  it  was  buried,  and  where  ? 
It  is  so  difficult  to  conceal  anything  in  China,  and 
at  least  six  thousand  taels  must  have  been  dis- 
covered and  carried  off. 

"  The  students  are  mostly  arrived,  and  the 
literary  chancellor  expected  to-morrow.  No 
chapels  are  allowed  to  be  open  at  night.  No 
books  may  be  sold  to  the  students.  A  proclama- 
tion is  out  telling  them  their  business  here  is  to 
be  examined,  and  begging  them  to  stick  to  it. 

"  Chinese  mobs  are  certainly  peculiar.  At 
Kiating  the  senior  member  of  the  China  Inland 
Mission,  who  has  so  long  lived  there  quietly  win- 
ning the  respect  and  regard  of  the  whole  neigh- 
bourhood, ventured  back  from  the  yamen,  and 
himself  inspected  the  rioting  of  his  house.  People 


228     IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

were  all  going  in  and  helping  themselves,  and 
when  he  saw  anything  being  carried  off,  for  which 
he  had  a  special  value,  he  said,  *  Oh,  put  that 
down,  will  you  ? '  and  they  did  so.  On  the  other 
hand  when  a  woman  rushed  out  holding  aloft  with 
its  sleeves  spread  out  a  nightdress,  crying  out, 
'  What  is  this  ? '  he  said,  laughing,  *  Oh,  take  that 
home,  and  make  clothes  for  your  little  children. 
It  will  do  nicely  for  them.'  Thus  they  rioted  and 
he  looked  on." 


CHAPTER  XIV 

LITTLE    KNOWN    BORDER   TRIBES 

ON E  of  the  great  excitements  in  Chinese  city 
life  is  when  a  great  traveller  comes  by. 
Then  for  a  few  days  at  least  we  all  sit  at  his  feet 
and  offer  tribute  of  all  our  local  knowledge  and 
stored-up  experience  of  many  years,  asking  in 
return  for  that  lively  interest  we  never  get  from 
people  who  live  in  China,  and  who  almost  all  seem 
to  grow  like  the  Chinese,  apathetic,  asking  also 
for  some  accounts  of  his  past,  where  he  has 
travelled,  what  he  has  seen  or  done,  for  all  of 
which  there  is  such  ample  leisure  as  one  can  never 
find  in  world  centres.  Thus  we  sometimes  think 
on  our  occasions  we  enjoy  a  fuller,  richer  inter- 
course with  distinguished  people  than  would  be 
possible  elsewhere  except  under  similar  circum- 
stances. Most  of  these  travellers  are  already  well 
known  to  be  collecting  materials  for  their  books, 
which  all  in  due  course  have  appeared  and 
enriched  the  world's  stock  of  knowledge,  but  two, 
who  had  specially  strange  tales  to  tell,  have 
written  no  books,  and  some  account  of  their 

229 


230    IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

wonderful  experiences  may  be  acceptable  to  the 
general  reader.  The  one  is  Miss  Annie  Taylor, 
at  that  time  an  Associate  of  the  China  Inland 
Mission.  She  passed  through  Chungking  in  the 
spring  on  her  way  home  from  Tibetan  voyagings, 
which  had  extended  over  nearly  a  year,  the 
greater  and  most  difficult  portion  of  her  journey 
having  been  made  in  the  depth  of  winter. 

Miss  Taylor,  in  addition  to  the  suffering 
inevitable  in  a  country  so  bare  of  food  and  shelter 
as  is  Tibet,  and  in  a  climate  where  the  strongest 
often  succumb,  had  her  existence  further  imperilled 
by  the  treachery  and  cruelty  of  her  Chinese 
servant,  and  was  only  saved  on  more  than  one 
occasion  from  being  murdered  by  the  interposition 
of  the  more  chivalrous  Tibetans ;  even  then, 
nothing  but  the  most  undaunted  resolution, 
coupled  with  remarkable  coolness  and  nerve, 
saved  her  from  perishing  a  victim  to  such  cold  and 
hunger  as  it  seemed  incredible  a  woman  should 
have  survived. 

Miss  Taylor  was  then  a  medium-sized  woman 
of  Saxon  build,  with  brilliant  brown  eyes,  the 
complexion  of  a  traveller,  and  the  air  of  one  who 
had  suffered  much.  Her  bearing,  her  bright  eyes 
and  animated  expression  showed  her  to  be  a 
woman  of  resource  and  imagination,  and  in  seeing 
her  lively  manner,  notwithstanding  her  then  weak 


LITTLE  KNOWN  BORDER  TRIBES       231 

state  of  health,  one  began  to  understand  the 
influence  she  had  been  able  to  exercise  over 
the  savage  people,  amongst  whom  she  had 
been  travelling  alone  with  her  life  in  her  hand. 
She  was  still  full  of  enthusiasm  for  the  civilisa- 
tion and  conversion  of  the  Tibetans,  which 
she  hoped  to  communicate  to  the  people  of 
England. 

Alone,  with  the  help  of  one  Christian  Tibetan, 
whom  she  brought  with  her  from  Darjeeling,  she 
had  penetrated  to  within  three  days  of  Lhassa, 
and  returned  alive  to  tell  the  tale.  But  for  the 
abominable  treachery  of  a  Mohammedan  Chinese, 
whom  she  engaged  in  Kansuh,  there  seems  little 
doubt  but  that  she  would  have  arrived  in  Lhassa 
itself.  Miss  Taylor  first  attempted  to  enter  Tibet 
from  the  Indian  side  in  1887.  Sikkim  was  not 
English  then,  and  orders  were  given  that  no  one 
should  serve  her.  So  though  she  had  plenty  of 
money  she  could  buy  nothing,  and  was  often  very 
hungry.  Then  she  got  fever,  and  had  no  appetite. 
But  after  quinine  her  appetite  returned,  till  she 
did  not  know  which  was  worse,  fever  or  hunger. 
Sometimes  for  days  together  she  had  nothing  to 
eat  but  grains  dropped,  it  would  seem  out  of 
kindness,  by  some  man  walking  along  the  road 
eating.  For  all  were  ordered  not  to  sell  to  her  or 
in  any  way  supply  her  with  food.  Twice  attempts 


232     IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

were  made  to  poison  her,  and  for  ten  months  she 
never  saw  another  European. 

Then  she  decided  to  try  to  get  in  from  China, 
came  round  by  sea  and  up  the  Yangtze,  then 
overland  to  Sungpan  on  the  Tibetan  border. 
After  spending  about  a  year  on  the  frontier, 
living  very  quietly,  not  going  out,  but  constantly 
entertaining  Tibetans  in  her  house,  she  received 
various  offers  of  convoys  to  Lhassa.  Before 
crossing  the  frontier,  about  which  she  had  no 
trouble,  she,  however,  engaged  a  Mohammedan 
Chinaman,  whose  Tibetan  name  was  Noga.  She 
had  two  tents,  four  servants,  and  tried  to  get  ten 
really  good  horses  by  promising  to  give  them  at 
the  journey's  end  to  Noga.  But  all  through  her 
difficulties  about  horses  seem  to  have  been  end- 
less. One  of  her  first  serious  adventures  was 
being  attacked  by  a  band  of  brigands  with  white 
fur  coats,  leading  each  a  spare  horse.  Two  men 
were  killed,  eight  wounded,  and  five  out  of  her 
horses  killed,  besides  much  property  lost.  Things 
would  have  been  much  worse  with  her,  and 
possibly  her  whole  band  would  have  been  killed, 
but  that  a  Lama  called  out  to  the  robbers,  "  They 
are  women !  All  women ! "  so  she  was  not 
pursued.  Amongst  Mongols  and  Tibetans  it  is 
esteemed  a  dreadful  thing  to  strike  a  woman,  so 
that  all  women  go  about  unarmed,  although  every 


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LITTLE  KNOWN  BORDER  TRIBES       233 

man  carries  weapons.  Miss  Taylor  says,  by  the 
Tibetan  religion  it  is  forbidden  to  take  life, 
whether  a  flea's,  a  sheep's,  or  a  man's.  The 
consequence  of  which  seems  to  be  not  that  human 
life  is  respected  but  that  all  life  is  alike  lightly 
esteemed. 

On  the  28th  of  September  the  party  crossed 
the  Yellow  River,  there  very  narrow  and  danger- 
ous, on  yak  skins  blown  out,  with  hurdles  laid 
upon  them,  and  drawn  by  horses.  These  rafts 
are  awash  all  the  time,  and  the  water  was  ice- 
cold.  They  then  found  themselves  in  the  very 
large  Golok  district,  peopled  entirely  by  robbers. 
Apparently  a  charming  country  to  travel  in,  for 
Goloks  never  rob  within  their  own  territory. 
But  it  is  not  so  pleasant  to  get  in  or  out  of. 
Travellers  in  making  contracts  in  Tibet  always 
have  to  agree  to  pay  for  a  yak,  or  horse,  if  it 
die,  or  gets  stolen  on  a  journey,  but  not  if  it  be 
stolen  by  the  Goloks.  The  Goloks'  chieftain  is 
a  woman,  and  laws  are  strictly  observed  in  her 
domains,  and  no  bribes  taken.  This  is  a  fact  of 
which  the  supporters  of  woman's  suffrage  might 
well  make  note.  But  it  is  to  be  feared  that  as 
women  become  more  civilised  they  also  grow  more 
mercenary.  At  that  time  the  Goloks  related  'how 
five  Russians  came  to  travel  through  the  country, 
and  they  themselves  went  out  to  attack  them  five 
Q 


234     IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

hundred  strong,  but  could  kill  none,  though  twelve 
of  themselves  were  killed.  Then  after  that  came 
one  traveller  alone  with  a  tin  box.  They  all 
wanted  that  tin  box,  and  still  continued  to  reproach 
one  another  that  they  did  not  take  it,  but  their 
belief  was  that  on  opening  it  an  army  of  soldiers 
would  come  out,  and  they  thought  the  same  with 
regard  to  Miss  Taylor's  two  cases  of  chests  of 
drawers,  besides  having  many  other  fabulous 
tales  about  her,  which  all  probably  stood  her  in 
good  stead. 

At  one  time  it  was  so  cold  that  touching  a 
knife  made  the  skin  come  off,  and  one  of  her 
servants  lay  dying,  and  as  he  was  a  Mohammedan 
he  had  to  be  washed  before  he  died,  although  this 
was  nearly  an  impossibility.  It  was  managed 
somehow,  naturally  hastening  the  man's  end,  and 
then  after  that  the  difficulty  was  how  to  bury 
him.  They  found  at  last  a  piece  of  swampy 
ground,  and  as  it  was  still  early  in  the  winter 
it  was  possible  to  move  a  few  sods.  So  they 
covered  him  up,  but  not  before  the  wolves  were 
all  howling  round.  She  then  went  on  to  Sagiaka, 
and  saw  five  hundred  of  the  men  there  start  out 
on  a  freebooting  excursion.  They  think  this 
quite  a  right  thing  to  do,  although  small  thefts 
are  severely  punished  among  them.  She  then 
crossed  the  Drichu,  which  she  thought  was 


LITTLE  KNOWN  BORDER  TRIBES       235 

possibly  the  head  waters  of  the  Yangtze,  passed 
Gala  with  its  houses  all  set  against  the  hill,  the 
roof  of  one  house  serving  as  the  terrace  of  the 
one  behind,  and  described  how  the  people  there 
used  nothing  to  enrich  the  ground,  nor  even 
removed  the  stones,  but  just  planted  barley  every 
other  year,  leaving  the  ground  to  be  refreshed 
by  the  sun  between  whiles.  By  far  the  larger 
number  of  Tibetans,  however,  live  in  tents  even 
in  that  climate,  so  unsuited  as  one  would  think. 
In  every  way  the  people  sought  to  prevent 
her  from  entering  the  Lhassa  district  by  telling 
her  of  fighting  going  on  there,  but  she  learnt 
that  an  arrangement  had  been  come  to  that 
travellers  should  not  be  interfered  with.  It  was 
there,  however,  Noga,  after  repeated  acts  of  in- 
subordination, began  to  use  violence  to  her,  and 
at  last  tried  to  draw  his  sword.  It  was  the 
Tibetans  who  saved  her  from  her  own  Chinese 
servant,  and  saying  there  was  no  chief  there  able 
to  protect  her,  sent  her  on  under  an  escort. 
"  Whether  a  foreigner  or  not,  you  are  a  woman," 
said  the  Tibetans. 

Miss  Taylor's  hardships  would  require  a  volume. 
For  three  days  her  party  lost  their  road ;  they 
had  no  tent.  That  and  every  comfort  had  had 
to  be  sold  to  pay  her  way,  her  servant  having 
taken  everything  he  could  from  her  before  he 


236    IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

left  her.  When  on  the  24th  December  they 
found  the  road  again  they  just  hid  away  in  the 
hills  for  the  whole  of  Christmas  Day  for  rest. 
During  all  this  part  of  the  journey  her  sufferings 
from  the  rarity  of  the  air  were  very  great,  palpi- 
tations, gasping,  and  inability  to  digest  their  barley 
food.  Of  even  that  they  had  so  little.  Noga 
had  spread  a  report  that  Miss  Taylor  was  travel- 
ling with  a  belt  of  gold  and  jewels  round  her 
waist.  And  she  had,  therefore,  to  travel  by 
night,  finding  the  cold  beyond  what  anyone  could 
imagine  who  had  not  felt  it.  Tea  froze  as  soon 
as  poured  out,  and  for  three  nights  they  were 
only  too  thankful  to  find  refuge  in  a  cave  with 
just  room  for  them  to  lie  down,  half  suffocated 
by  smoke,  so  as  to  obtain  a  little  warmth.  On 
the  3ist  December  they  crossed  the  Drichu  into 
the  Lhassa  district,  but  had  to  stop  near  Najuca 
within  three  days'  journey  of  Lhassa  owing  to 
Noga  having  gone  before  making  a  great  merit 
of  revealing  that  there  was  a  foreigner  coming. 
A  military  chief  thereupon  arrived  from  Lhassa, 
very  gorgeous  in  his  clothing  and  at  first  rough, 
then  friendly  and  indignant  at  the  Chinaman's 
treachery.  There  was  a  sort  of  trial.  And  no 
one  who  could  should  miss  hearing  from  this 
heroic  woman's  own  lips  how  she  stood  out  for 
her  dignity  as  an  Englishwoman  till  in  the  end 


LITTLE  KNOWN  BORDER  TRIBES       237 

she  not  only  won  respect  from  all,  but  convinced 
the  chief  of  the  truth  of  her  story,  thereby  saving 
the  lives  of  her  two  Tibetan  servants,  who  the 
Chinaman  had  tried  to  make  out  were  treacher- 
ously leading  her  into  Tibet.  The  Tibetan 
chieftains  told  her  as  far  as  they  were  concerned 
she  could  go  on  to  Lhassa,  but  they  would  lose 
their  lives  if  she  did ;  meanwhile  they  assigned 
to  her  an  official  and  nine  soldiers  to  protect  her 
against  the  Chinaman,  besides  supplying  her  most 
pressing  necessities.  Everywhere  she  said  she 
found  the  Tibetans  express  liking  for  the  English. 
They  had  been  especially  struck  by  the  prisoners 
in  the  Sikkim  war  being  kept  alive,  well  fed,  and 
actually  supplied  with  money  to  go  home  with. 
So  that  there  even  seemed  a  little  fear  lest  should 
there  be  another  war  the  whole  people  would 
seek  to  be  taken  prisoners. 

On  the  return  journey  the  horses,  which  in 
winter  have  to  be  fed  with  goat's  flesh,  tea,  butter 
and  cheese,  none  of  which  she  could  afford, 
suffered  so  much  from  hunger  they  were  always 
tumbling  down,  until  Miss  Taylor  joined  herself 
on  to  a  yak  caravan.  Then  the  two  hundred 
yaks  made  a  way  for  the  whole  party  through 
twenty  feet  of  snow.  It  was  on  the  22nd  January 
Miss  Taylor  left  the  Lhassa  district  of  Tibet,  and 
on  the  1 2th  of  April  she  reached  Tachienlu  after 


238    IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

hardships  such  as  it  seems  hardly  credible  a 
woman  should  have  surmounted.  In  Tibet  she 
was  always  called  Annie,  the  name  for  their 
women  religious  teachers,  and  to  look  more  like 
one  had  all  her  hair  cut  off.  It  seems  in  Tibet 
there  are  the  girls  who  are  the  mothers  of  children 
by  the  various  visitors  at  their  fathers'  house — 
these  children  belong  to  the  girls'  fathers,  and 
are  made  very  useful.  There  are  the  wives  of 
often  more  than  one  husband,  generally  two  or 
more  brothers  having  the  same  wife,  and  so  on, 
and  then  besides  these  are  the  Annies.  There 
is  no  girl  infanticide  in  Tibet  as  in  China,  and 
more  men  becoming  Lamas  than  women  Annies, 
those  whom  we  call  the  surplus  women  become 
girl-mothers  living  on  in  their  fathers'  houses. 
Truth,  as  well  as  what  we  call  sexual  morality,  seems 
to  be  a  virtue  unknown  among  the  Tibetans.  But 
whether  because  of  their  vices  or  their  virtues,  Miss 
Taylor  returned  with  her  heart  as  much  set  as  ever 
upon  carrying  the  gospel  of  glad  tidings  to  this 
people  who,  if  they  do  wrong,  yet  at  all  events,  as 
she  says,  do  not  conceal  it.  They  do  it  openly. 

This  picture  of  Tibetans  is  so  unlike  anything 
that  I  have  yet  read  in  any  book  of  travels  that  it 
seems  to  me  well  worth  recording,  but  I  owe  it 
all  to  this  most  exceptional  lady  missionary,  who 
has  now  again  returned  to  the  Indian  side  of 


.r      *^» 


LITTLE  KNOWN  BORDER  TRIBES       239 

Tibet  to  try  to  work  among  the  Tibetans  abroad, 
access  into  their  own  country  being  so  difficult. 
Since  then  the  Roman  Catholics,  owing  to  the 
persistent  efforts  of  that  most  indefatigable  French 
Consul,  M.   Haas,  have  succeeded  once  more  in 
reinstating  their  missions  in  Tibet  itself.       But  it 
is  a  question  whether  for  Christianising  the  people 
work  over  the  border  is  not  likely  to  be  more 
successful,  just  as  I  have  for  many  years  thought 
that   missions    to    Chinese    in    Alaskan   salmon 
canneries,     or     on     Canadian     railroads,     or     in 
American  laundries  might  be  more  remunerative 
than  in  China  itself.     They  would  certainly  excite 
no  opposition   in    the   first  instance,  and   in  the 
second,  all  those  who  have  lived  for  any  time  out 
of  their  own  country  must  be  aware  how,  whether 
for   good   or    ill,    prejudices    drop    away,    habits 
become  loosened,  and  gradually — if  they  be  not 
watchful — all  life  becomes  more  and  more  of  an 
open  question.      It  is  thus  insensibly  many  Chris- 
tians tend  towards  heathenism,  and  many  heathen 
I  should  suppose  in  like  manner  towards  Christi- 
anity, so  that  but  a  little  help  would  be  needful  to 
complete  the  change.      At  home  amongst  their 
old  surroundings,  entangled  at  every  turn  by  the 
claims  of  family  and  the  chains  of  old  immemorial 
custom,     it    is     altogether    a     different    matter. 
My   own    acquaintance   with    Tibetans   is   very 


240     IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

slight ;  at  the  frontier  town  of  Tachienlu  we  were 
chiefly  struck  by  the  beauty  and  modest  air  of  the 
young  men  we  met,  but  they  were  of  the  wild 
Menia  tribe,  not  real  Tibetans. 

Mrs  Pruen  can  hardly  be  described  as  a 
traveller,  but,  like  Miss  Annie  Taylor,  is  also  a 
member  of  the  China  Inland  Mission,  and  has  for 
many  years  resided  in  the  province  of  Kweichow, 
which  is  still  full  of  aborigines.  In  most  cases  the 
Chinese  conquerors  have  absorbed  their  subject 
races,  effacing  all  traces  of  distinctive  customs  ; 
not  so  in  Kweichow,  where  the  aborigines  are 
still  as  much  despised  by  the  Chinese  of  the 
neighbourhood  as  if  they  were  Westerners.  They 
seem  now  chiefly  to  live  in  the  hills,  and  in  place 
of  images  they  have  tall,  upright  stones  to  which 
they  pay  reverence.  These  are  also  to  be  found 
in  many  parts  of  Yunnan.  Some  so  -  called 
Cornish  crosses  greatly  resemble  them.  Can  all 
three  have  the  same  origin  ?  With  the  exception 
of  Mr  Bourne,  whose  notes  of  his  travels  were  so 
unhappily  lost  in  the  Chungking  riots,  no  one  has 
written  about  these  aborigines,  which  will  give 
additional  interest  to  the  following  notes  given  me 
by  Mrs  Pruen  *  : — 

The  Gathering  of  the  Miao  Clans. 

"  For  three   days  of  the  second  month,  the 

*  The  Provinces  of  Western  China,  described  by  Mrs  Pruen, 
has  been  published  by  Alfred  Holmes,  13  Paternoster  Row. 


LITTLE  KNOWN  BORDER  TRIBES       241 

black-dressed  Miaotse  aborigines  assemble  to  the 
number  of  about  a  thousand  persons  to  perform  a 
religious  dance  similar  to  the  old  English  dances 
round  the  Maypole,  only  far  more  solemn. 

"  Leaving  the  provincial  capital  after  break- 
fast, and  accompanied  by  two  native  women  in 
small  sedan  chairs,  we  soon  began  to  ascend  the 
hills  and  by  mid-day  were  a  league  out  of  the 
city,  going  over  barren  hills  whose  valleys  were 
full  of  opium,  vegetable  oil  and  bean  plants,  with 
occasional  waste  spaces  for  rice.  The  road  was 
so  bad  we  were  glad  to  get  out  of  the  chairs  and 
walk,  then  after  another  ten  miles  onwards  and 
upwards,  accomplished  just  before  dark,  we  found 
ourselves  beside  a  small  high  plateau  surrounded 
by  conical  hills.  A  Chinese  coal-owner  most 
hospitably  received  our  large  party  into  his  house  ; 
in  the  next  room  were  several  "  Miao "  women 
with  their  daughters,  who  had  come  for  the  dance. 
And  next  morning  we  watched  the  girls  adorning 
themselves  like  English  ladies  going  to  a  ball. 
They  took  four  hours  over  their  toilettes ;  the 
dress  consists  of  several  suits,  nearly  black  in 
colour,  the  jacket  in  cut  something  like  a  sailor's, 
leaving  the  chest  exposed,  and  the  skirt  a  closely- 
pleated  (accordion)  skirt  reaching  just  below  the 
knees  and  resembling  a  kilt.  The  jacket  and 
skirt  were  beautifully  embroidered  with  coloured 


242     IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

silks.  The  girls'  hair  is  coiled  slightly  to  one  side 
and  for  the  dance  partly  covered  with  broad- 
headed  silver  pins  ;  unmarried  girls  wear  a  white 
handkerchief  bound  round  the  head,  also  round 
their  necks  three  silver  rings  given  by  their  parents. 
"  At  noon  the  dance  begins.  From  between 
the  conical  hills  come  running  down  to  the  plateau 
scores  of  grown-up  lads  and  lassies  ;  the  youths 
wear  blue  or  dark-coloured  robes  girdled  with 
beautifully-embroidered  sashes  crossed  in  front 
and  folded  at  the  back.  Both  young  men  and 
girls  wear  streamers  or  tassels  falling  down  the 
back,  the  heads  of  both  richly  ornamented  with 
silver,  and  embroidered  cloths  wound  round  their 
ankles.  But  the  girls  have  neither  shoes  nor 
stockings.  Both  men  and  girls  wore  silver  rings 
round  their  necks,  some  several.  Each  youth 
carried  a  six-tubed  flute  (its  music  resembled  the 
bass  of  an  harmonium).  The  dance  is  conducted 
each  day  in  the  same  manner  and  very  quietly, 
the  youths  and  maidens  together  in  groups  of  five, 
six  or  seven  forming  large  circles.  Then  the 
youths  play  a  few  bars  on  their  flutes  and  finish 
by  waving  them  in  the  air,  after  which  the  one 
nearest  the  fair  partners  gives  them  a  nudge  and 
the  little  party  move  sideways,  a  few  steps  towards 
the  left,  the  girls  taking  the  lead.  Then  they  all 
stop ;  and  the  youths  play  a  few  more  bars  and 


LITTLE  KNOWN  BORDER  TRIBES       243 

the  ceremony  is  repeated,  so  in  the  end  all  of 
them  go  round  the  pole  several  times.  At  sunset 
they  all  disperse  to  their  holiday  quarters  ;  and  at 
these  times  the  dance  partners  exchange  presents, 
so  that  on  the  second  day  some  of  the  youths  and 
maidens  have  each  about  twenty  silver  rings 
round  their  necks." 

At  the  gathering  of  the  Black  Clan,  March 
1894,  there  were  about  four  hundred  youths  and 
maidens.  This  gathering  is  held  annually  and  at 
the  same  place  for  three  years.  Their  embroid- 
eries seem  to  be  about  the  richest.  They  are 
quite  unlike  Chinese  embroidery,  and  are  done  on 
native  cotton  cloth  of  coarse  description,  entirely 
covered  with  silks  of  the  richest  possible  dyes, 
such  as  we  never  get  in  Europe  now,  so  that  the 
general  effect  is  almost  that  of  jewelled  embroidery. 
The  Miao  silver  ornaments  are  curious.  One  of 
the  tribe  made  a  five  days'  journey  from  Kwei- 
chowfu,  the  capital  of  the  province  of  Kweichow, 
to  get  some  for  me,  and  even  then  could  not  buy 
them,  but  got  them  made  by  his  people.  The 
richly-embroidered  cloth  in  which  a  woman  carries 
her  baby  on  her  back  is  said  to  take  her  a  year  to 
work,  and  one  can  readily  believe  this,  it  is  so 
entirely  covered  with  work. 

On  another  occasion  Dr  and  Mrs  Pruen  went 
to  the  gathering  of  the  "  Chung  Family "  clan. 


244    IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

It  was  a  festival  of  rejoicing  that  the  rice  would 
soon  be  ready  for  harvest,  and  had  also  a  great 
deal  to  do  with  courtship.  At  this  they  said  there 
were  hardly  any  elderly  people,  but  crowds  of 
young  men  and  girls  dressed  in  their  best.  Their 
costumes  resembled  that  of  the  Chinese,  with  the 
exception  of  having  unbound  feet  and  wearing  a 
dark  handkerchief  bound  prettily  round  the  head. 
The  inn  was  surrounded  all  day  by  people,  and 
there  were  several  thousand  persons  at  the  market. 
In  the  evening  as  the  people  separated  they  sang 
in  groups,  the  girls  by  themselves  and  the 
men  by  themselves,  but  their  language  being 
quite  different  from  Chinese,  what  they  sang  was 
unintelligible.  "  We  saw  six  or  seven  different 
tribes,  distinguished  by  their  dress.  Just  opposite 
our  house,  at  different  times  during  the  day,  young 
men  danced  and  played  their  flutes,  the  men 
dancing  in  pairs,  and  it  was  an  effective  spectacle. 
The  Hoa  Miao  girls  stood  by  watching  them. 
They  had  a  peculiar  dress,  a  closely-fitting  black 
hood,  and  skirts  edged  with  white,  which  at  the 
back  were  long  and  rounded  and  pleated.  As  the 
girls  walked  these  skirts  swung  from  side  to  side 
like  crinolettes. 

"  The  Hoa  Miao  in  Anshuen  had  quite  plain 
rings  round  their  necks,  so  had  the  Tsing  Miao 
whose  dance  I  witnessed.  For  head  ornaments 


LITTLE  KNOWN  BORDER  TRIBES      245 

to  wear  at  the  dance,  they  charge  an  ounce  of 
silver  for  the  workmanship  of  an  ounce,  because 
they  make  birds,  etc.  The  long  chain  should  be 
tied  in  a  bow  or  knot  at  the  front,  and  worn 
hanging  down  like  the  Chinese  mandarin's  Kua  chu 
ze.  I  saw  one  man  with  so  many  necklaces  that 
he  could  not  bend  his  neck. 

"  You  could  not  buy  a  skirt ;  as  each  woman 
embroiders  her  own  clothes,  she  values  them 
much,  and  I  think  those  who  sell  their  clothes  are 
those  who  have  left  their  own  people  and  come  to 
live  in  the  city  and  adopt  Chinese  dress.  There 
are  seven  yards  of  cotton  cloth  in  the  skirt, 
thirty-one  narrow  widths,  the  deep  embroidery  is 
worn  at  the  back,  and  the  skirt  crossed  in  the 
front.  The  jacket  is  worn  over  apron  and  skirt 
and  tied  loosely  at  the  back.  For  a  dance  there 
would  be  many  rings  and  chains  and  the  head 
richly  ornamented  with  silver  birds,  etc.,  some- 
times to  forty  ounces  in  weight.  The  skirt  worn 
at  the  dance,  if  they  can  afford  it,  is  embroidered 
one  foot  deep.  Of  course  there  are  poor  women 
who  cannot  afford  many  silver  ornaments.  This 
tribe  do  not  wear  shoes  or  stockings,  few  do. 
The  Chongkia  do,  and  theirs  are  like  the  Kwangsi 
or  Kwangtung  shoes  in  shape,  pointed  at  the 
toes.  Their  dance  is  different  from  that  of  the 
Tsing  Miao. 


246    IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

"The  Heh  Miao  dance  takes  place  in  the 
third  month  and  is  arranged  thus  :  men  with 
flutes  in  the  centre  in  groups  of  five  or  seven, 
girls  in  a  ring  outside  and  friends  and  parents 
outside  again  as  a  protection.  The  men  lead  the 
dance  and  the  girls  follow,  the  step  is  three  steps 
forward  with  one  foot,  three  steps  with  the  other 
foot,  and  then  turn  round  three  times  ;  the  steps 
are  like  those  of  the  Scotch  Reel." 

Diagram  of  the  dance  of  the  Tsing  Miao 
(Aboriginal  Tribe)  of  Kweichow  Province,  China. 
(As  sketched  by  Dr  Pruen)  :  — 


i~st 

•  7~" 


CHAPTER  XV 

TABLE   DECORATIONS 

HOW  interesting  it  would  be  at  a  flower 
show  to  throw  open  a  table  competition 
to  Chinese  men  servants  instead  of  European 
ladies!  The  idea  has  been  suggested  by  the 
extraordinarily  elaborate  and  very  tasteful  decora- 
tions lately  seen  in  a  remote  outport,  the  one  by 
a  Ningpo  boy,  the  other  by  a  Pekingese.  The 
Ningpo  boy  relied  almost  entirely  on  flat  devices 
on  the  table-cloth ;  one  a  rosebush  in  miniature, 
formed  of  bits  of  flat  grass  for  stalks,  with  leaves 
and  rosebuds,  all  first  detached,  then  most  in- 
geniously laid  together.  The  napkin  by  this 
plate  was  twisted  into  a  snake  with  red  seeds 
for  eyes,  a  black  pupil  to  each,  whilst  the  napkin 
opposite  represented  a  wolf.  Then  came  a  land- 
scape formed  of  very  small  bits  of  leaf,  all  green, 
and  somewhat  poetic  in  character.  Beside  another 
plate  a  miniature  Abutylon  plant  appeared  quite 
flat  on  the  table,  formed  again  of  detached  flower 
leaves  and  stalks,  and  this  time  with  even  the 
flowers  pressed  open  and  flattened.  And  so  on 
all  round  the  table. 

247 


248    IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

The  Pekingese  hardly  equalled  the  Ningpo 
boy  in  this  his  own  specialty  of  flat  pictures. 
But  he  had  a  bowl  of  magnificent  crimson  roses 
in  the  centre  of  the  table,  raised,  and  with  a 
garland  of  flowers  round  the  foot.  His  dishes 
of  fruit  were  also  particularly  successful,  being 
decorated  with  flowers  of  the  same  tone  of  colour 
as  the  fruit,  only  stronger,  his  table  being  as  a 
whole  all  orange  and  crimson,  relieved  only  by 
the  white  of  the  cloth.  But  his  forte  was  ex- 
ceptionally graceful  sprays  of  flowers,  all  wired, 
and  disposed  in  curves  that  balanced  one  another, 
and  thus  knit  the  whole  decoration  into  one. 
These  sprays  were  masterpieces  and  would 
certainly  have  carried  off  a  prize  at  any  flower 
show. 

Then  there  was  a  flat  scorpion  composed  of 
tiny  bits  of  feathery  leafage,  also  a  dragon,  and 
every  here  and  there,  lightly  resting  on  the  table- 
cloth, the  most  dainty  ichneumons  made  out  of 
pea  blossom,  with  long  antennae  formed  out  of 
the  tendrils.  Beside  the  one  lady  guest  was  a 
special  rose  spray  wire-mounted,  and  of  the 
lightest  possible  description ;  poised  on  one  of 
the  buds  was  a  butterfly  with  wings  wide  dispread, 
and  apparently  perfect  plumage.  And  when  one 
of  the  wings  fell  off,  the  Pekingese  was  equal  to 
the  occasion,  and  on  having  the  spray  returned 


TABLE  DECORATIONS  249 

to  him  soon  brought  it  back  again  complete  with 
a  butterfly  with  four  wings  once  more.  In  both 
these  cases  each  guest  had  as  it  were  two  special 
pictures  on  the  cloth  on  either  side  of  his  plate, 
besides  the  general  effect,  and  the  occasional 
creatures.  Nothing  could  well  be  more  amusing 
than  an  exhibition  of  a  variety  of  such  tables  all 
equally  fanciful,  but  differently  thought  out. 
Would  it  not  make  a  furore  in  England,  and  it 
would  certainly  be  a  novelty  even  in  Shanghai, 
where  possibly  there  is  as  little  Chinese  decora- 
tion as  anywhere,  certainly  less  than  in  Paris. 

In  an  old-established  Chinese  Hong  or  house 
of  business,  or  in  a  bachelor  household  where 
details  are  left  to  the  Chinese  butler  and  his 
aides,  all  of  whom  alike  we  call  Boys,  there  is  a 
method  of  decoration  which  I  have  not  seen  any- 
where else  but  in  China.  It  consists  of  coloured 
sand  or  sawdust  sprinkled  upon  the  table-cloth  by 
the  aid  of  a  piece  of  cardboard  cut  like  a  stencil 
plate.  Thus  there  will  be  a  broad  border  of 
coloured  sand  with  possibly  something  of  the 
nature  of  a  key  pattern  added  to  it  all  up  and 
down  the  table.  The  first  impression  is  that  of 
a  velvet  stripe  in  the  tablecloth,  and  though  stiff 
I  cannot  but  acknowledge  the  effect  if  well  carried 
out  is  decorative,  but  all  brides  steadily  set  their 
faces  against  it,  for  is  it  not  unlike  anything  we 


250     IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

have  in  England  ?  Therefore  when  a  man 
marries  he  must  as  a  rule  say  good-bye  to 
coloured  sawdust  on  his  tablecloth.  The  puzzle, 
however,  to  my  mind  is  where  have  Chinese 
servants  learnt  thus  to  decorate  dinner  tables, 
where  have  they  acquired  and  practised  the 
flattened  flower  landscapes  I  began  by  describ- 
ing ?  For  at  no  Chinese  feast,  wedding,  or 
dinner  party  have  I  ever  seen  any  arrangement 
of  any  kind  of  flowers  whatsoever  upon  the  table. 
There  are  flowers  in  every  Chinese  lady's  and 
little  girl's  hair,  flowers  in  vases,  but  no  flowers 
upon  the  dinner  table. 

Chinese  have  no  cloth  upon  the  table,  and  our 
tablecloths  produce  anything  but  a  festive  impres- 
sion upon  their  minds  from  their  colour,  white 
being  with  them  associated  with  mourning.  It  is 
possible  they  therefore  cast  about  for  anything  to 
give  colour.  Japanese  are  even  worse  off  than 
Chinese  in  this  respect,  for  they  not  only  have  no 
tablecloths  but  no  tables,  the  pretty  dinner  tray, 
before  which  they  sit  resting  upon  their  heels,  not 
deserving  to  be  ranked  as  a  table.  They  very 
commonly,  however,  have  a  vase  with  a  spray  of 
flowers  placed  alongside  of  the  meal.  Not  so 
the  Chinese.  Yet  I  have  tried  up  country  with 
a  Chinese  boy,  who  has  barely  seen  a  foreign 
dinner  table,  never  waited  at  a  foreign  dinner 


TABLE  DECORATIONS  251 

party,  and  on  just  bidding  him  :  "  Make  the  table 
look  pretty,"  been  always  delighted  with  the 
result.  On  one  occasion  I  remember  amongst 
other  things  we  had  pumeloes  (like  large  oranges) 
peeled,  the  inside  taken  out,  and  a  little  light 
placed  in  its  stead,  and  thereby  extra  fairy 'lamps 
extemporised,  which  at  once  quite  cast  into  the 
shade  the  by  comparison  clumsy  fairy  lamps 
brought  from  London.  Even  the  coolie,  who 
carries  a  load  for  you,  will  at  once  understand, 
when  he  knows  that  you  wish  it,  how  to  decorate 
your  table  for  you.  And  as  a  general  rule  I  have 
found  the  more  untaught  the  Chinese,  the  less 
Europeanised,  the  more  artistic  will  his  flower 
arrangement  be,  although  there  is  a  curious  un- 
certainty in  his  mind,  such  as  I  have  found  in 
some  children's,  as  to  which  flowers  must  be 
reckoned  dead.  Dead  leaves  have  often  beauti- 
ful colours.  Why  not  dead  flowers,  too  ?  he  may 
think. 

His  eye  for  colour  is  not  as  ours,  but  observ- 
ing the  beautiful  blending  of  many  delicate  tints 
in  the  ordinary  dress  of  a  young  Chinese  dandy, 
and  contrasting  that  colour  symphony  with  the 
pronounced  colour  contrast  in  the  dress  of  a 
young  London  dandy,  and  the  often  loudly  clash- 
ing colours  in  the  dress  of  a  fashionable  lady,  I 
sometimes  fancy  that  it  is  our  sense  of  colour, 


252    IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

not  theirs,  that  is  at  fault.  They  are  naturally 
hardly  to  blame  if — finding  we  will  buy  them  at 
higher  prices  because  they  are  new — they  turn 
out  embroideries  for  the  European  market  with 
silks  dyed  for  cheapness  with  dyes  from  Germany. 
It  is  not  China  that  invented  these  last,  but 
Europe.  Europe  sells,  and  China  buys  and  sells 
back  to  Europe  again.  The  old  embroideries 
have  tints  not  as  beautiful  as  the  wonderfully 
rich  tints  of  the  aborigines'  embroidery  described 
in  another  chapter,  but  at  least  rivalling  the 
beautiful  colours  of  the  ceilings  in  the  British 
Legation  and  other  Peking  palaces. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

PART      I. AN      ANTI-FOOTBINDING     TOUR    THROUGH 

HANKOW,    WUCHANG,    HAN-YANG,    CANTON    AND 
HONG-KONG 

'THHOSE  who  remember  their  sensations  as 
-L  children,  when  first  forced  to  plunge  into 
the  cold  sea,  can  realise  a  little  the  feeling  with 
which  I  contemplated  starting  off  on  a  tour  round 
the  south  of  China  among  complete  strangers  to 
oppose  footbinding,  one  of  China's  oldest,  most 
deep-rooted,  domestic  customs. 

The  honorary  secretary  of  our  Natural  Feet 
Society — to  translate  its  Chinese  name  of  Tien 
Tsu  Hui — had  done  her  best  to  prepare  the  way 
by  writing  beforehand  to  say  that  I  was  coming 
on  behalf  of  the  society,  and  the  China  Merchants' 
Company  —  the  one  great  Chinese  steamship 
company — had  most  kindly  at  once  granted  me 
a  free  pass  by  their  steamers  all  round  China, 
but  this  made  me  all  the  more  feel  that  I  must 
work  hard  and  accomplish  much  in  order  to 
justify  their  liberality.  They  had  promised  in- 
troductions to  leading  Chinese.  But  I  had  but 
few  introductions  to  Europeans,  and  having 

253 


254    IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

mostly  lived  in  the  far  west  of  China  had  hardly 
any  acquaintance  in  the  south. 

We  had  taken  of  late  to  inviting  Chinese 
officials  to  our  meetings,  and  I  still  recalled  the 
sinking  of  my  heart  when,  the  new  Victoria  Hall 
having  been  hired  at  Hankow,  and  the  chairman 
of  the  Municipal  Council  having  himself  arranged 
the  seats,  the  audience  began  to  come  in,  official 
after  official,  some  with  retinues,,  some  without, 
some  also  with  that  tremendous  swagger  that 
makes  one  feel  as  if  the  man  who  thus  walked 
could  think  no  subject  in  heaven  or  earth  worthy 
of  his  interest.  The  Consul  introduced  me  in 
brief  words,  and  then  I  had  to  stand  up  and  front 
them,  realising  to  the  fullest  extent  exactly  how 
strange,  how  unheard-of,  these  Chinese  officials 
must  consider  a  woman  addressing  them  at  all, 
and  especially  on  that,  to  them,  exceptionally 
indelicate  subject — women's  feet.  I  did  not 
wonder  my  Chinese  interpreter's  courage  gave 
way,  and  he  became  to  all  intents  and  purposes 
voiceless,  for  to  him  these  officials  were  far  more 
awe-inspiring  personages  than  even  to  me.  A 
well-known  missionary  with  a  fine  knowledge  of 
Chinese  colloquial  and  a  powerful  voice  came  to 
the  rescue.  And  keeping  a  firm  hand  upon  my- 
self lest  I  should  laugh  aloud,  the  whole  scene 
striking  me  as  so  irresistibly  comic,  I  proceeded 


u  o 

*3 

o  < 

f* 


8* 


O  O 

s^ 


S   55 


«  cn 
g« 

M* 

If! 

H£  1 

£     ? 
o     £ 


AN  ANTI-FOOTBINDING  TOUR  255 

to  do  my  very  best  to  make  it  seem  anything 
but  laughable  to  my  Chinese  hearers.  Over  two 
thousand  leaflets  and  tracts  against  footbinding 
were  carried  off  from  that  meeting,  and  even  then 
some  of  the  principal  officials  were  still  asking 
for  more  as  they  went  away. 

Hankow  is  but  one  of  three  cities  that  meet 
together,  only  separated  by  the  Han  and  Yangtze 
Rivers.  Wuchang,  which  lies  opposite  to  it  across 
the  Yangtze,  is  the  seat  of  China's  most  learned 
Viceroy,  Chang  Chih  Tung.  His  literary  style 
is  considered  inimitable,  and  we  had  taken  care 
to  decorate  our  hall  with  huge  red  placards  con- 
taining his  words  against  footbinding,  in  which 
the  reasons  for  doing  away  with  this  most  damag- 
ing custom  are  so  well  stated  it  seems  almost 
needless  for  anything  further  to  be  written  in 
that  classic  Chinese — or  Wenli — of  which  the 
Viceroy  is  a  past  master.  Obviously  for  the 
" stupid"  people  simpler  versions  are  required. 
One  military  mandarin  only  deigned  to  study 
this  placard  without  condescending  apparently 
to  listen  to  any  of  my  words  of  wisdom,  but  he 
signed  on  as  a  member  of  our  society  at  the  end, 
whilst  the  chief  magistrate  of  Han-yang,  the 
smallest  of  the  three  cities  and  separated  from 
Hankow  by  the  Han  whilst  lying  on  the  same 
side  of  the  Yangtze,  signified  to  the  meeting 


256    IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

that  he  had  never  permitted  footbinding  in  his 
family.  This  naturally  produced  a  profound  im- 
pression. And  then  the  demand  for  the  tracts 
began,  for  if  the  great  Viceroy  at  Wuchang  con- 
demned footbinding,  and  the  chief  magistrate  at 
Han-yang  had  all  the  womankind  in  his  family 
unbound,  what  was  the  purely  commercial  city 
of  Hankow  that  it  should  stand  against  such 
bright  examples  in  high  places  ?  And  who  could 
fail  to  wish  to  convince  his  womankind  to  give 
up  this  most  troublesome  and  trying  practice  ? 
The  interpreter,  before  the  meeting  began,  and 
when  he  was  not  yet  voiceless,  had  already  con- 
fided to  me  that  he  had  twice  taken  the  bandages 
off  his  own  little  daughter's  feet,  but  that  her 
mother  had  always  replaced  them.  For  though 
it  is  to  please  men  and  win  husbands  of  good 
social  position  for  their  daughters  that  women 
bind  their  little  girls'  feet,  it  is  again  and  again 
the  case  that  the  elder  men,  especially  amongst 
the  learned  classes,  object  to  the  practice  as 
barbarous ;  just  as  men  of  a  certain  age  in 
Europe  denounce  ear  -  piercing,  tight  -  lacing, 
high  heels,  whilst  yet  women  know  but  too  well 
that  the  eyes  and  inclinations  of  the  younger 
and  marriageable  part  of  the  male  community 
are  attracted  by  these  or  any  other  follies  plainly 
done  to  please,  and  thus  serving  to  a  certain 


AN  ANTI-FOOTBINDING  TOUR          257 

extent   as    an   announcement    of    the   desire   to 
captivate. 

That  public  meeting  at  Hankow  was  quickly 
followed  by  another  at  Han-yang,  of  those  who 
were  believed  to  be  convinced  on  the  subject. 
Yet  when  the  women  who  had  abound  their 
feet  were  asked  to  stand  up,  and  one  after  another 
they  slowly  rose  till  the  whole  number  were 
standing,  we  all  thought  there  must  be  some 
mistake,  and  yet  more  carefully  and  slowly  the 
request  was  explained  to  them.  On  which  all 
the  good-humoured  Hupeh  faces  were  rounded 
with  a  smile  of  great  amusement  as  like  one  mass 
the  women  once  more  all  arose.  There  had  been 
meetings  for  the  young  men  of  the  upper  classes 
before  that  at  Wuchang,  and  meetings  for  ladies, 
at  which  the  whole  room  tittered  on  the  ridiculous 
question  being  put  to  them,  as  to  whether  any 
woman  ever  bandaged  her  feet  for  her  own 
amusement  or  delectation.  With  their  feet  all 
aching  the  ladies  laughed  at  the  idea!  And  as 
I  walked  along  the  street  of  the  provincial  capital 
next  day  it  was  delightful  to  see  children  running 
out  from  quite  grand  official  dwellings  to  ask  if 
any  leaflet  could  be  spared  for  their  household. 
But  that  meeting  at  Han-yang  where  the 
women  rose  en  masse  on  abound  feet  was  the 
crowning  finish,  after  which  I  left  the  familiar 


258     IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

valley  of  the  Yangtze,  and  returning  to  Shanghai 
prepared  for  this  strange  tour  into  the  unknown 
south. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  say  how  very  kindly 

was  the  welcome  of  the  till  then  unknown 
Europeans,  and  what  trouble  they  took  to  help 
forward  the  movement  to  set  the  women  of  China 
on  their  feet  again.  But  to  English  readers  the 
most  interesting  thing  is  to  hear  about  Chinese. 
The  chief  feature  of  the  visit  to  Canton  consisted 
in  an  interview,  accorded  as  soon  as  asked  for, 
by  the  then  Viceroy,  Li  Hung  Chang.  Additional 
piquancy  was  given  to  this  because  the  British 
Consul  -  General,  when  asked  first  whether 
he  could  give  an  introduction  or  in  any  way 
facilitate  it,  pronounced  it  such  an  impossibility 
that  a  Chinese  Viceroy  should  be  willing  to 
receive  a  lady,  that  he  seemed  to  think  it  almost 
unnecessary  to  say  he  could  render  no  assistance 
in  a  matter  so  contrary  to  all  decorum.  Happily 
the  Consul-General  for  Italy,  residing  in  Hong- 
Kong,  had  thought  otherwise,  and  had  already 
furnished  me  with  a  letter  to  his  friend  Lord  Li — 
Li  Hung  Chang's  adopted  son — in  1908  sent  as 
Chinese  Minister  to  London.  I  therefore  wrote 
to  Lord  Li,  indicating  how  much  it  would  help 
forward  the  anti-footbinding  movement  if  I  could 
gain  any  sign  of  approbation  from  the  Viceroy, 


AN  ANTI-FOOTBINDING  TOUR          259 

and  asking  whether  he  could  in  any  way  arrange 
it,  mentioning  at  the  same  time  that,  whilst  myself 
ready  to  set  aside  any  other  engagement  for  the 
purpose,  a  well-known  and  greatly  respected 
American  lady  doctor  would  be  able  to  accompany 
me  if  Sunday  were  not  fixed  upon  :  if  otherwise  I 
must  go  alone.  Lord  Li  immediately  replied, 
appointing  a  day  and  hour  when  the  latter  could 
accompany  me,  although  without  his  knowing  it 
the  time  he  selected  seemed  singularly  incon- 
venient, being  that  already  appointed  for  a 
meeting  of  Chinese  ladies.  There  had  been 
before  this  a  meeting  of  men  and  women  at  the 
Presbyterian  Chapel,  somewhat  brilliantly  begun 
by  Dr  Mary  Fulton  presenting  diplomas  to  two 
Chinese  lady  medical  students.  They  were  very 
gaily  dressed,  so  also  were  all  their  friends  and 
companions  to  do  them  honour.  The  chapel  was 
very  elaborately  decorated  with  innumerable  little 
shrubs  twisted  and  wired  in  the  Chinese  fashion, 
and  a  further  festive  touch  was  imparted  from 
the  hymns  used  on  the  occasion  having  been 
printed  on  rich  red  paper.  Thus,  when  all  the 
audience  fluttered  and  turned  the  hymn  sheets,  it 
looked  as  if  the  chapel  were  filled  with  a  flight  of 
bright  red  birds. 

Dr   Kerr,   the  oldest   missionary  at   Canton, 
who  then  saw  his  life  work  all  around  him,  the 


260    IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

men's  and  women's  hospital,  all  built,  and  for  so 
many  years  managed  by  himself,  presided  on  the 
occasion,  and  told  a  curious  story  of  the  greatest 
compliment  that  had  ever  been  paid  to  his 
medical  skill,  when  some  twenty  years  or  more 
before  a  lady  had  come  from  afar  to  put  her- 
self under  him  as  a  patient.  Both  her  feet 
had  mortified  off  through  binding ;  she  had, 
however,  brought  them  with  her  —  in  spirits, 
and  now  wanted  the  foreign  doctor,  who  could 
do  such  wonders,  to  fasten  them  on  for  her 
again. 

How  many  women  in  China  would  be  thank- 
ful if  this  could  be  done,  and  would  not  consider 
the  pain  they  had  undergone  if  only  medical  skill 
were  equal  to  thus  repairing  its  visible  effects ! 
In  other  countries  also  to  what  pain  will  not 
devotees  of  fashion  submit  themselves ! 

The  captain  of  a  Chinese  man-of-war,  who 
had  previously  studied  at  Yale  College,  most 
kindly  served  as  an  interpreter,  and  from  the 
eager  attention  and  bursts  of  laughter  it  was 
evident  not  a  point  was  lost.  Though  once  or 
twice  the  gallant  captain  paused  visibly,  and 
looked  with  some  hesitation  at  the  screened-off 
side  of  the  chapel,  where  amongst  the  other 
women  sat  his  own  wife,  known  as  one  of  the 
richest  as  also  one  of  the  tightest-bound  ladies 


AN  ANTI-FOOTBINDING  TOUR          261 

of  Canton.  He,  however,  gathered  up  his  courage 
and  interpreted  bravely,  and  I  have  never 
addressed  an  audience  that  seemed  so  much 
moved  as  that  Cantonese  audience,  if  one  might 
judge  by  their  laughter,  generally  a  pretty  fair 
indication  in  China,  or  by  the  way  in  which  they 
all  crowded  up  to  the  top  of  the  chapel  to  pay 
each  a  small  sum  of  money,  and  receive  a  paper 
indicating  their  association  with  the  Natural  Feet 
Society.  It  was  impossible  for  the  women  to  join 
there  and  then,  as  they  could  not  get  through  the 
crowd  of  men,  but  the  naval  captain's  wife  took 
an  opportunity  afterwards  for  saying  that  she  was 
going  to  let  out  her  feet,  had  indeed  already 
begun  to  do  so,  whilst  an  old  woman  of  over 
seventy  was  eager  to  relate  that,  although  no  one 
had  had  courage  to  advise  her  to  do  so  at  her 
age,  yet  she  had  let  out  her  feet ;  and  though  for 
some  time  she  had  certainly  suffered  very  much, 
yet,  determined  to  continue  as  an  example  to 
others,  she  was  now  thankful  to  say  she  suffered 
no  more  and  could,  as  we  saw,  step  out  wonderfully 
well  even  considering  her  age  alone. 

The  next  day  was  settled  for  a  meeting  of 
ladies  with  bound  feet,  no  others  to  be  admitted. 
And  then  Lord  Li  appointed  that  very  day  and 
hour  for  an  interview  with  the  Viceroy,  and  to 
crown  all  it  set  to  and  poured — as  it  never  can 


262    IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

pour  in  England.  Thus  only  nine  Chinese  ladies 
turned  up,  and  even  then  we  were  astonished  to 
see  so  many,  for  Chinese  dread  the  rain  even 
more  than  English  cats  do.  I  had  only  time  to 
say  a  few  words  before  leaving  them  with  many 
apologies,  but  there  was  again  a  proof  of  how 
little  importance  we  instruments  are  in  the  world, 
for  although  the  meeting  would  never  have  been 
called  but  for  my  visit  to  Canton,  and  the  ladies 
had  been  invited  to  meet  me,  yet  when  I  went 
away  and  left  them,  the  other  European  ladies 
pleaded  so  efficaciously  that  all  nine  Chinese  there 
and  then  decided  not  only  to  join  our  society  but 
themselves  actually  to  unbind,  to  attain  which 
blessed  result  no  eloquence  of  mine  would  ever 
have  sufficed.  Meanwhile  Dr  Mary  Fulton  and 
I  proceeded  to  the  Viceroy's  official  residence,  on 
and  on  through  narrow,  crooked  streets,  in  sedan 
chairs  into  which  the  rain  streamed  upon  us,  till 
at  last  after  rather  over  an  hour  we  arrived  at  the 
yamen,  chilled  and  damped,  but  I  at  least  on  the 
tenter-hooks  of  expectation,  for  in  all  the  years  I 
had  spent  in  China  I  had  never  been  inside  an 
official  residence.  Dr  Fulton  had  already,  and 
maintained  from  the  outset  that  it  was  sure  to  be 
dirty,  dilapidated  and  rambling,  and  altogether 
unimpressive.  Her  description  from  imagination 
proved  fairly  accurate,  though  I  think  had  the 


AN  ANTI-FOOTBINDING  TOUR  263 

day   been   fine   the   approach    through    gateway 
beyond  gateway  might  have  seemed  imposing. 

We  were  shown  at  once  into  a  side  ante-room, 
passing  by  one  in  which  a  mandarin  sat  cowering 
in  furs  and  much  anxiety.  The  two  interpreters 
joined  us  almost  immediately,  Lord  Li  and  Dr 
Mak,  and  very  shortly  word  was  sent  that  Li 
Hung  Chang  was  ready  to  receive  us,  and  after 
passing  along  a  long  corridor,  a  spacious  court- 
yard on  either  side,  and  to  the  right  an  aviary 
full  of  birds,  we  were  received  by  the  great  man 
standing  at  the  door  of  his  reception-room,  a  most 
imposing  figure,  six  foot  four  in  height,  clad  in  an 
ermine-lined  gown  down  to  his  feet,  and  a 
beautiful  sable  cape,  with  diamonds  actually  in  the 
front  of  his  cap  as  well  as  on  his  fingers.  This 
at  least  my  missionary  friend  told  me  with  an 
American's  quickness  of  sight  for  diamonds  and 
sables.  I  only  noticed  his  great  height,  uncom- 
monly European  type  of  feature,  and  piercing 
glance,  as  he  received  us  most  graciously,  and 
waved  us  to  seats  at  a  round  table  in  the  middle 
of  the  room.  There  was  one  especially  cushioned 
arm-chair  for  the  old  man,  and  an  attendant  stood 
close  at  hand  to  help  him  into  and  out  of  it. 
Lord  Li  sat  down  opposite,  as  we  took  out  seats 
on  either  side  of  the  Viceroy  ;  Dr  Mak  drew  up 
another  chair  to  his  right  and  somewhat  in  the 


264     IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

rear,  and  a  line  of  men-servants  stood  at  'tention 
all  down  one  side  of  the  room.  This  line  of 
listening  servants  is  what  stands  for  public  opinion 
and  the  press  in  China.  It  is  also  through  them 
that  the  most  important  State  secrets  are  known 
to  the  man  in  the  street  before  diplomatists  have 
even  taken  them  in ! 

I  always  try — though  probably  unsuccessfully 
— to  be  above  prejudices,  but  I  must  confess  that 
Li  Hung  Chang  probably  never  received  anyone 
who  held  a  darker  view  of  his  past  history,  yet  in 
but  a  few  minutes  he  had  so  entertained  and 
charmed  as  to  have  quite  disarmed  me.  Foot- 
binding,  the  subject  about  which  I  had  come  to 
talk,  was  of  course  the  subject  he  tried  to  avoid, 
and  as  I  had  not  come  about  him  the  Viceroy 
wanted  to  talk  to  me  about  my  husband,  telling 
me  when  they  had  last  met,  and  all  they  had  said 
to  one  another,  charring  me  about  the  results  of 
that  interview,  the  rocks  and  rapids  of  the 
Yangtze,  and  the  insuperable  difficulties  steamers 
would  encounter  in  the  Yangtze  gorges.  I 
ventured  to  tell  him  that,  notwithstanding  all 
these,  my  husband  had  taken  a  steamer  through 
the  Yangtze  Rapids,  and  that  on  that  occasion  I 
had  been  his  companion,  being  the  only  other 
European.  "  You  had  indeed  courage,"  said  Li 
Hung  Chang.  "  Not  so  much  as  when  I  pre- 


AN  ANTI-FOOTBINDING  TOUR  265 

sumed  to  come  and  see  a  Chinese  Viceroy,"  I 
replied,  and  having  so  far  countered  his  first  attack 
proceeded  to  unfold  the  objects  of  my  visit.  "  No, 
I  do  not  like  to  hear  little  children  crying  over 
having  their  feet  bound,"  grumbled  out  the  genial 
Viceroy.  "  But  then  I  never  do  hear  them,"  he 
hastened  to  add.  I  told  him  his  brother's  descend- 
ants, his  own  relations,  were  many  of  them  not 
binding.  He  could  not  believe  this,  so  I  ventured 
to  say  something  about  his  mother.  "Oh,  she 
only  let  out  her  feet  when  she  was  quite  old," 
said  Li  Hung  Chang.  "  I  think  all  the  women  in 
the  Li  family  have  always  been  bound."  Then 
as  I  looked  discouraged,  knowing  it  was  not  the 
case  with  the  present  generation,  yet  not  liking  to 
set  the  great  man  right  about  these  family  details, 
Lord  Li  politely  interposed :  "I  can  tell  you  of 
one  who  never  has  been  and  never  will  be,  my 
own  little  girl."  Li  Hung  Chang  apparently 
thought  it  discreet  not  to  seem  to  hear  this,  as  he 
proceeded,  "  And  you  want  me  to  unbind  the  feet 
of  the  women  of  China  ?  No !  now,  that  really  is 
beyond  my  powers.  Do  you  premeditate  getting 
one  kind  of  shoe  to  suit  all  the  women  of  China  ? 
Because  I  can  tell  you  beforehand  that  cannot  be 
done.  I'll  answer  for  that.  Do  you  want  me  to 
give  you  a  writing  like  Chang  Chih  Tung  ?  Well, 
then,  you  know,  it  must  be  an  essay,"  he  groaned 
s 


266    IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

out  with  a  smile  of  amusement,  as  much  as  to  say, 
"  The  writing  of  essays  is  not  much  in  my  line,  and 
I'm  rather  old  to  set  about  it  now."  The  bright 
idea,  however,  occurred  of  asking  him  simply  to 
write  something  on  my  fan  as  a  recognition  of  the 
movement,  and  with  the  greatest  good  nature  he 
called  two  servants  to  lift  him  out  of  his  arm-chair, 
for  with  his  great  height  and  advanced  years  he 
could  not  then  stand  up  or  sit  down  unaided,  and 
walking  to  a  writing-table  proceeded  there  and 
then  to  write  an  inscription,  which  has  been  shown 
at  every  anti-footbinding  meeting  since,  and 
carried  great  weight.  Lord  Li  took  pains  to 
point  out  that  it  might  be  put  to  this  use,  but  also 
added  good-naturedly  that  if  he  could  he  would 
get  his  father  to  write  something  more,  but  that 
really  he  was  rather  over  busy,  especially  for  his 
great  age.  We  took  this  as  a  signal  that  we 
should  withdraw,  but  the  Viceroy  begged  us  to 
remain  till  he  had  presented  Dr  Fulton  with  a 
hundred  dollars  for  her  hospital,  insisting  that  she 
must  take  them  away  with  her.  He  asked  all 
manner  of  questions  about  the  hospital,  and 
scrutinised  her  subscription  list  very  carefully, 
whilst  the  money  was  being  brought.  Then  he 
grumbled  out,  turning  to  me,  "  You  know  if  you 
unbind  the  women's  feet  you'll  make  them  so 
strong,  and  the  men  so  strong  too,  that  they  will 


AN  ANTI-FOOTBINDING  TOUR          267 

overturn  the  dynasty."  I  have  often  thought  of 
this  prediction  of  Li  Hung  Chang's  since,  whilst 
wondering  what  it  is  in  his  manner  that  so 
disarms  suspicion,  even  dislike.  He  is  evidently 
exceptionally  quick  and  capable  for  a  man  of  his 
years  of  any  .nationality,  extraordinarily  so  for  a 
Chinese ;  he  has  also  that  bluff  frankness,  that 
manner  of  being  forced  to  say  things  just  so,  that  La 
Bruyere  says  is  the  only  manner  of  correctly  paying 
a  compliment,  as  if  it  must  out — even  against 
possibly  better  judgment.  And  with  all  this  he 
has  evidently  an  unfeigned  and  very  Chinese  love 
for  a  war  of  words  and  a  joke  wherever  to  be 
found.  That  he  has  a  charm  »none  who  talk  with 
him  can  doubt,  and  the  idea  could  not  help  cross- 
ing my  mind  how  often  Tse  Hsi  must  regret  that 
he  is  no  longer  her  right-hand  man,  and  that 
something  or  someone  ever  came  between  them. 
For  with  that  imposing  personality  beside  the 
throne  the  Dowager  Empress  must  surely  have 
felt  a  cheerier  as  well  as  a  safer  woman. 

At  Hong-Kong,  thanks  to  Lady  Blake,  the 
Governor's  wife,  who  presided  at  the  meeting 
arranged  by  Mr  Pollock,  then  Acting  Solicitor- 
General,  the  way  was  made  very  easy.  The  city 
hall  was  filled  and  very  influentially,  many  seem- 
ing anxious  to  do  what  they  could,  although  the 
language  difficulty  lay  like  an  iron  bar  between  so 


268     IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

many  and  any  practical  work.     The  Chinese  Club, 
formed  the  year  before  on  the  lines  of  an  European 
club,  then  held  a  meeting,  and  when  members  of 
the  committee  came  down  in  the  European  fashion 
and  led  us  into  the  outer  of  the  two  rooms,  which 
with  their  respective  balconies  were  packed  full  of 
wealthy  Chinese  men,  the  whole  gathering  stood 
up  to  greet  us,  and  at  the  conclusion  of  speeches 
cheered   with   as   much   fervour   as    Englishmen 
might  have  done.     Mr  Ho  Tung,  commonly  re- 
puted the  richest  man  in  Hong- Kong,  presided, 
while  a  leading  Chinese  lawyer  interpreted  in  case 
there  were  any  present  who  could  not  understand 
English.       But   that   these   were   very   few    was 
shown   by   the   quickly    following    laughter   and 
other  signs   of  comprehension  before  the  inter- 
pretation  began.      This    last   was,    however,    a 
guarantee  against  misrepresentation.     It  may  be 
thought  odd  so  often  to  mention  laughter  at  these 
meetings,   assembled    to   discuss   a   subject    that 
seems  far  more  lamentable  than  ludicrous.     But 
besides  that  I  always  make  as  many  comic  points 
as  I   can,  believing  that  it  is  far  easier  to  move 
people  to  reform  when  already  moved  to  laughter. 
Chinese,  like  Japanese,  think  signs  of  sorrow  un- 
becoming,  and  being  affected    must   show    it  in 
some   way.     Thus   they   often    laugh   when   an- 
nouncing a  death,  and  when  at  Ningpo  I  related 


AN  ANTI-FOOTBINDING  TOUR          269 

how  much  shocked  I  had  been  on  going  over  the 
Sisters  of  St  Vincent's  establishment  to  see  five 
young  girls,  three  quite  children,  two  about  twenty, 
who  had  all  five  lost  both  their  feet  through  bind- 
ing and  could  only  get  about  upon  their  hands  and 
knees,  instead  of  tears  or  long-drawn  ah's  as  there 
might  be  in  England,  there  was  a  general  burst  of 
cackling  laughter. 

After  the  speeches  and  the  applause  were 
over  at  the  Hong- Kong  Chinese  Club  we  were 
taken  by  the  committee  into  an  upper  room,  where 
European  comforts  of  curtains  and  cushioned  arm- 
chairs were  judiciously  intermingled  with  Cantonese 
elegancies  of  black  carved  wood  and  landscape 
marble.  There  the  most  varied  assortment  of 
cakes  was  laid  out  for  us  on  the  middle  table,  but 
whilst  talking  with  one  or  two  of  the  Chinese 
Reform  party,  my  late  chairman  begged  us  not  to 
go  too  fast  in  the  way  of  asking  people  to  join  our 
society,  reminding  me  that  in  the  families  of  one 
or  two  gentlemen  who  had  applauded  most 
heartily,  the  feet  of  all  their  women  relations  were 
to  his  knowledge  still  tightly  bound.  At  first  the 
difficulty  about  calling  meetings  at  Hong- Kong 
had  been  that  the  oldest  residents  declared  that 
women  there  rarely  had  bound  feet,  and  had  I  not 
too  vividly  remembered  a  little  scene  I  should  not 
have  persevered.  I  had  gone  with  a  party  of 


270    IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

friends  to  visit  a  Chinese  house  in  Canton,  often 
shown  to  sightseers,  and  the  master  of  the  house, 
together  with  his  guest,  a  gentleman  with  vener- 
able white  beard,  over  on  a  visit  from  Hong- 
Kong,  on  hearing  my  name,  had  begged  that  I 
would  go  into  the  women's  quarter.  One  of  the 
sons  of  the  house  accompanied  us.  Having  pene- 
trated a  certain  distance,  we  were  about  to  turn 
back  when  some  women  servants  lifted  the  corner 
of  a  heavy  curtain  and  beckoned  to  us  to  step 
within.  In  the  semi-gloom  inside,  surrounded  by 
women  attendants,  we  found  a  young  girl  sitting 
in  gorgeous  garments,  painted  and  bejewelled  to 
exaggeration.  Surprised  that  she  did  not  rise  to 
greet  us,  we  still  tried  to  salute  her  according  to 
etiquette,  whilst  those  irrepressible  maids  pulled 
her  skirts  aside  to  call  our  attention  to  her  almost 
incredibly  small  feet.  The  poor  child  may  have 
been  suffering  cruelly  from  them  at  the  time,  and 
as  she  showed  every  sign  of  disliking  our  in- 
trusion, I  withdrew  a  little,  only  to  see  from  a 
distance  how  she  humped  her  shoulder,  turned  her 
face  away  and  almost  kicked  at  my  companion, 
making  an  inarticulate  sound  expressive  of  the 
deepest  aversion.  I  suppose  our  faces  showed 
our  horror,  for  the  servants  began  to  apologise, 
saying  she  had  never  seen  a  foreign  woman  before. 
Meanwhile  her  sister,  whose  toilette  was  as  yet  in 


AN  ANTI-FOOTBINDING  TOUR  271 

the  incipient  stage,  came  in,  and  immediately 
tottered  into  the  darkest  corner  of  the  room,  hold- 
ing her  arms  up  before  her  eyes  to  shield  them 
from  the  horrid  sight,  whilst  warding  us  off.  I 
hastened  to  retire,  begging  the  young  man  to 
express  to  the  two  young  ladies  how  much  dis- 
tressed we  were  to  have  caused  them  so  much 
discomfiture,  and  that  we  never  would  have  come 
in  if  we  had  thought  our  visit  would  have  been  so 
disagreeable.  He  seemed  to  think  it  a  matter  of 
little  moment,  and  did  not  appear  abashed,  as  he 
explained  that  the  two  were  sisters,  and  the  second 
his  wife,  both  daughters  of  the  grey-bearded  old 
gentleman,  who  was  the  largest  owner  of  Chinese 
house  property  in  Hong- Kong,  where  the  two  girls 
had  been  born  and  bred,  yet  as  the  servants  said 
without  even  having  once  seen  a  foreign  lady. 
This  gave  me  some  idea  of  the  seclusion  in  which 
Chinese  girls  are  kept  in  Hong- Kong,  and  how 
little  therefore  European  residents  there  were 
likely  to  know  of  their  condition,  unless  they 
had  taken  some  pains  to  ascertain  facts.  The 
steamer  captain  had  told  me  how  those  who  had 
travelled  with  him  were  carried  on  board  pick-a- 
back by  their  men  servants,  just  as  sacks  might 
be  carried,  so  that  I  could  not  believe  it  when  I 
was  told  there  were  no  bound  feet  in  Hong-Kong, 
and  now,  on  being  confronted  with  two  rooms  full 


272     IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

of  wealthy  Chinese  there,  I  was  told  at  once  to 
bear  in  mind  that  nearly  all  their  womenkind  were 
crippled. 

"  We  must  have  them  too  to  a  meeting,"  said 
Lady  Blake,  and  at  once  came  to  the  rescue. 
She  sent  out  invitations  broadcast  to  Government 
House,  inside  which  no  Chinese  women  had  ever 
yet  set  foot,  and  to  render  it  easier  for  them  to 
come  invited  Chinese  gentlemen  to  be  entertained 
in  one  room  whilst  the  ladies  should  hear  addresses 
in  another.  Before  this  came  off  another  meeting 
— of  boys  this  time — was  held  by  the  kindness  of 
the  head  of  Queen's  College — the  one  disinterested 
benefit  that  England  seems  to  have  conferred 
upon  China — for  whilst  an  excellent  education  is 
provided  there,  the  young  Chinamen  who  receive 
it  are  afterwards  scattered  all  over  the  vast 
Chinese  Empire.  The  Bishop  of  Victoria,  who 
kindly  presided,  brought  a  contingent  from  his 
own  Diocesan  College,  and  so  did  Mr  Pearce 
of  the  London  Mission,  who  most  kindly  inter- 
preted. There  must  have  been  over  five  hundred 
boys  and  young  men  present,  but  I  still  cannot 
think  of  this  meeting  without  horror,  for  my  chair 
coolies  misunderstood  where  I  wanted  to  go.  I 
could  not  make  them  understand  sufficiently  to 
correct  their  mistake,  and  when  at  last,  through 
the  kindness  of  a  passer-by,  I  succeeded  in  this, 


AN  ANTI-FOOTBINDING  TOUR          273 

they  still  did  not  know  the  way,  and  I  could  not 
tell  it  to  them.  The  result  was  that  bishop,  boys, 
interpreter  and  all — all  waited  and  wondered, 
whilst  I  grew  desperate  at  being  carried  back- 
wards and  forwards  through  the  back  ways  of 
the  city  of  Victoria,  and  arrived  too  much 
ashamed  and  confused  even  to  give  utterance  to 
my  distress.  Desperately  I  then  tried  to  convey 
to  the  young  men  what  I  wanted,  and  they, 
perhaps  desperate  also  from  having  been  kept 
waiting  so  long,  applauded  with  such  long- 
continued  waves  of  applause  and  laughed  such 
echoing,  rolling  peals  of  laughter,  that  it  was 
almost  impossible  to  get  on  with  what  I  was 
saying.  In  the  end,  when  it  came  to  showing 
Li  Hung  Chang's  writing  on  my  fan,  and 
Rontgen  ray  photographs  of  Chinese  women's 
feet  bound  and  unbound,  as  also  distributing 
tracts  upon  the  subject  free,  gratis,  and  for 
nothing,  the  young  men  simply  stormed  the 
platform,  carrying  away  the  railing,  and  going 
off  a  serried,  struggling  mass  of  humanity,  still 
dinnerless,  but  anyway  laden  with  mental  food. 
It  must  surely  be  a  long  time  before  Queen's 
College  forgets  that  afternoon. 

After  the  boys'  meeting  was  over  there  was 
nothing  to  be  done  but  arrange  for  the  ladies' 
meeting  and  feel  anxious  about  it.  About  an 


274    IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

hour  beforehand  there  sat  the  English  admiral's 
wife  patting  a  neatly-shod  foot  on  the  fender  as 
she  said,  "It  really  won't  matter  much  if  none 
do  come,"  whilst  the  Governor's  wife  said  with 
authority,  "  Oh,  some  are  sure  to  come,  and  we'll 
have  them  into  the  drawing-room  and  shut  up  the 
ballroom,  if  they're  very  few."  Meanwhile  Miss 
Blake,  who  had  consented  to  be  Honorary 
Secretary  for  Hong- Kong,  had  just  returned 
with  me  from  seeing  the  palms  and  shrubs  the 
gardeners  had  been  all  the  morning  carrying  to 
line  the  approaches  to  the  ballroom,  and  we 
pronounced  that  it  looked  very  big.  Half-an- 
hour  beforehand  we  all  felt  sure  no  Chinese 
ladies  would  dare  to  come,  and  that  if  they  even 
did  start  they  would  never  venture  past  the 
sentries.  But  then  we  looked  out  and  saw  they 
were  beginning  to  arrive.  By  some  mistake  they 
all  left  their  sedans  at  the  outside  gate,  and  great 
was  the  hobbling,  whilst  the  ballroom  filled  and 
filled,  till  no  more  seats  could  be  found  anywhere. 
Then  two  or  three  of  the  Chinese  ladies  conferred 
together,  and  one  of  them  gave  out  that  servants 
ought  not  to  sit  in  the  presence  of  their  mistresses, 
and  all  amahs  were  requested  to  stand.  This 
at  once  cleared  out  seventy  or  eighty  not  bound 
foot  women,  who  thereafter  stood  down  the  sides 
of  the  ballroom,  whilst  a  large  school  of  little  girls 


AN  ANTI-FOOTBINDING  TOUR  275 

were  requested  to  take  up  their  places  on  the 
floor,  rather  to  the  horror  of  the  children,  who 
regarded  sitting  on  the  floor  as  far  odder  than 
English  children  would.  But  there  was  no  other 
place  for  them.  And  though  some  were  urgent 
to  send  these  little  girls  away  as  too  young,  I  was 
delighted  they  had  stayed,  when  at  the  end  of  the 
meeting  these  children  counted  out  their  money 
contributions  and  actually  wrote  down  their  own 
names  as  members  of  our  society.  Four  or  five 
amongst  them  were  already  bound,  so  that  there 
could  be  no  doubt  but  that  they  all  understood 
what  they  were  protesting  against.  Two  ladies 
with  small  bound  feet  took  up  a  prominent 
position  at  the  end  of  a  front  row,  and  after  a 
Chinese  lady  from  Australia  had  interpreted  Lady 
Blake's  words  of  welcome  and  the  opening  of  my 
address,  she  could  no  longer  stand  the  sight  of 
these  feet,  stuck  out  straight  in  front  of  their 
owners  for  comparative  ease  and  thus  obtruded 
between  her  and  the  audience,  so  apostrophised 
the  ladies  in  the  racy  colloquial  of  the  south. 
Two  English  ladies,  who  had  thus  unexpectedly 
had  the  attention  of  a  large  audience  called  to 
them,  would  probably  have  looked  very  indignant, 
or  if  not  indignant  showed  signs  of  confusion. 
But,  although  I  think  they  certainly  did  blush, 
these  two  Chinese  ladies  showed  no  indignation 


276    IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

and  wonderful  self  -  possession,  as  the  elder 
answered  that  she  was  too  old  to  unbind.  What 
reason  was  given  for  the  younger  not  doing  so 
I  did  not  understand.  It  was  pitiful  afterwards 
to  see  the  rows  of  amahs  in  the  hall  waiting  to 
support  their  tottering  mistresses  to  their  sedans. 
But  forty-seven  ladies  joined  the  Natural  Feet 
Society  there  and  then,  and  one  showed  how  she 
had  already  begun  to  loosen  her  feet.  At  one  of 
the  leading  Chinese  newspaper  offices  a  young 
man  had  said  to  me  with  a  bow,  "  My  wife  and 
all  my  sisters  have  unbound  their  feet."  A 
Chinese  doctor  had  contended  that  Hong- Kong 
bound  feet  could  not  be  unbound,  but  facts  prove 
that  he  is  mistaken,  although  it  seems  that  feet 
are  bound  exceptionally  tight  there.  According 
to  a  Chinese  writer  :  "  The  child  is  made  to  lie  in 
bed  during  the  first  year,  and  only  lifted  out  when 
it  is  absolutely  necessary." 

According  to  a  gathering  of  Chinese  ladies  in 
Shanghai  a  woman  with  a  very  strong  hand  is 
required  to  bind  the  feet  the  first  time,  and  she 
does  it  so  tightly  that  the  bandage  cannot  be 
removed  without  dipping  foot  and  bandage  to- 
gether into  warm  water.  Unless  this  precaution 
were  taken  all  the  skin  would  come  off  with  the 
bandage  and  probably  great  lumps  of  flesh  also. 
Several  of  them  said  they  had  seen  this  occur. 


AN  ANTI-FOOTBINDING  TOUR          277 

At  a  meeting  at  Foochow  lady  after  lady  said  she 
had  seen  a  girl,  both  of  whose  feet  had  dropped 
off  through  binding,  and  one,  a  Chinese  admiral's 
wife,  said,  "  Not  one  or  two,  but  several  have  I 
seen  among  my  own  acquaintances."  Before 
mortification,  sets  in  and  goes  so  far  as  to  cause 
the  whole  foot  to  fall  off  it  is  painful  to  think 
what  sufferings  must  have  been  undergone. 

"  Were  they  not  exquisitely  dressed  and  do 
you  not  think  that  a  room  full  of  Chinese  ladies 
looks  much  better  as  far  as  toilette  goes  than  a 
room  full  of  English  ladies  ? "  Such  was  one 
of  the  remarks  after  the  meeting.  But  the 
English  admiral's  wife,  to  whom  we  all  deferred 
on  matters  of  dress,  answered  with  decision, 
"  That  is  not  at  all  fair.  We  were  in  morning 
dress.  Wait  till  we  come  down  in  our  ball-gowns 
and  diamonds.  They  all  were  in  full  dress." 
Then  she  too  went  into  an  ecstasy  over  the 
embroideries  and  the  blending  of  tints.  All  the 
same  the  Hong  -  Kong  dresses  were  simply 
barbarous  to  what  I  afterwards  saw  at  Hangchow 
and  Soochow. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

PART    II. — THROUGH    MACAO,    SWATOW,    AMOY, 
FOOCHOW,    HANGCHOW   AND    SOOCHOW 

IT  is  a  little  sad  to  have  to  own  that  anti- 
footbinding  seems  much  farther  advanced  in 
languid,  sunshiny  Macao  than  in  bustling  Hong- 
Kong.  Of  course  the  Portuguese  have  been 
established  there  for  centuries,  and  they  mix  with 
the  people  and  inter-marry  as  we  do  not.  It  may 
be  that  which  makes  the  difference.  But  some 
say  a  doctor,  a  leading  member  of  the  reform 
party,  has  made  the  change  at  Macao.  There 
on  the  Praya,  a  miniature  Bay  of  Naples,  with 
the  exceptionally  romantic  public  gardens  at  one 
end  and  the  Governor's  palace  at  the  other,  the 
Portuguese  band  making  music  in  the  evenings, 
the  waves  lapping  on  the  shore,  mothers  walking 
out  with  their  children  round  them,  as  we  never 
see  English  mothers  in  the  East,  and  young  girls 
with  their  duennas,  there  in  Macao  several  of  the 
best  European  houses  are  occupied  by  Chinese, 
and  in  one,  conspicuous  with  heavily  -  gilded 
railings,  I  was  delighted  to  find  that  all  the 
children  were  growing  up  unbound.  Mr  Ho  Sui 

278 


THROUGH  MACAO,  SWATOW,  AMOY,  ETC.    279 

Tin,  the  leading  Chinese  of  Macao,  and  a 
Portuguese  subject,  not  only  arranged  a  Chinese 
meeting  for  me  to  address,  but  took  me  home  to 
his  house  afterwards  and  assured  me  one  of  his 
little  girls  was  about  shortly  to  be  unbound.  But 
though  they  had  every  luxury  in  the  way  of  costly 
and  artistic  furnishing,  even  to  a  billiard  table,  on 
which  they  said  they  played,  it  was  sad  to  see  the 
elder  daughters  with  their  bound  feet.  He  had 
not,  however,  been  a  member  of  the  Reform 
Doctor's  Society.  My  interpreter  had,  and  he 
seemed  full  of  earnestness,  when  at  a  little 
Christian  meeting,  at  which  the  enthusiasm  of 
everyone  impressed  me  very  refreshingly,  one 
of  the  first  to  join  the  society  was  a  bound  foot 
lady — his  wife — who  said,  smiling,  "If  you  will 
take  my  money,  and  accept  my  promise  that  I 
am  going  to  unbind."  The  secretary  of  the 
Portuguese  Club  was  kind  enough  to  organise 
a  meeting  there  for  all  people  who  understood 
English,  and  I  must  not  omit  to  mention  the 
great  kindness  of  the  then  Governor  Galhardo, 
even  hampered  as  he  was  by  the  carnival — a 
great  affair  at  mediaeval  Macao ! 

The  exquisite  views,  the  orange  trumpet 
flowers  of  the  bignonia,  the  merry  children  in 
carnival  costume,  the  soft  sunshine,  the  romance 
that  attaches  to  Camoens  garden  and  everywhere 


280     IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

romantic  accessories,  all  transport  one  to  Europe, 
and  make  Macao  a  place  quite  by  itself  in  China. 
I  cannot  help  hoping  also  that  it  is  one  of  the 
first  places  where  this  cruel  Chinese  custom  will 
die  out.  The  Roman  Catholic  Sisters  appeared 
eager  to  bring  this  about,  though  as  usual  it  was 
impossible  even  to  ask  them  to  combine  for  the 
purpose  with  Protestant  missionaries. 

The  China  Merchants'  Company  had  granted 
me  a  free  pass  by  all  their  steamers,  the  Hong- 
Kong  Canton  Macao  Company  had  been  equally 
liberal,  and  now  the  Douglas  Lapraik  Line  did 
likewise.  I  began  to  feel  as  if  it  were  hardly 
right  that  hotels  should  charge  me  anything 
when  steamer  companies  were  so  generous.  But 
it  was  only  at  Canton  and  Macao  that  it  was 
necessary  to  go  to  hotels.  Everywhere  else 
people  most  kindly  entertained  me  for  the  Cause. 

At  Swatow,  the  next  treaty  port  to  be  visited, 
I  came  across  a  quite  different  kind  of  binding. 
There  people  do  not  shorten  the  child's  feet, 
always  the  most  painful  part  of  the  process.  In 
order  to  get  some  field  work  out  of  the  children 
they  do  not  bind  their  feet  till  twelve,  often  not 
till  thirteen,  when  the  foot  is  already  too  much 
formed  for  it  to  be  possible  to  do  more  than  narrow 
it  by  binding  all  the  toes  but  the  big  one  under- 
neath the  foot.  An  abnormally  high  heel  is,  how- 


THROUGH  MACAO,  SWATOW,  AMOY,  ETC.    281 

ever  worn,  and  this  gives  to  the  foot,  placed 
slanting  upon  it,  the  appearance  of  being  short. 
There  is  often  a  little  round  hole  at  the  tip  of  the 
shoe  through  which  the  great  toe  can  be  seen. 
Obviously  this  kind  of  binding  is  far  easier  to 
unbind,  and  going  five  hours  by  steam  launch  up 
the  river  to  Kityang  I  was  delighted  on  being 
taken  round  to  call  on  the  various  leading  families 
to  find  them  nearly  all  unbinding.  The  talk  in 
each  house  among  the  ladies  was  as  to  whether 
all  their  toes  had  yet  come  up  or  not.  They  have 
a  way  there  of  trying  to  pull  them  up  by  strings. 
One  lady  was  very  proud  that  her  foot  was  now 
all  right.  Bound  at  eight,  unbound  at  twenty-one, 
seemed  to  be  the  record  of  her  life.  She  said  it 
had  taken  three  years  for  her  feet  to  regain  their 
natural  shape,  but  appeared  now  well  satisfied 
with  them.  In  another  house  one  lady  had  two 
toes  that  seemed  to  be  driving  her  nearly 
desperate,  in  another  one  lady  said  she  was 
almost  giving  up  one  toe.  There  was  no  Chinese 
society  against  binding  in  the  place,  nor  did  the 
missionaries,  who  were  not  long  there,  at  all 
attribute  this  movement  to  their  own  influence, 
saying  they  had  found  it  all  going  on  when  they 
arrived.  It  is  probably  the  outcome  of  the  great 
society  started  by  Kang  Yu  Wei  in  this  province, 
and  which  increased  till  it  had  three  hundred 
thousand  men's  names  on  its  books,  before  it  was 


282     IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

dissolved  by  the  Dowager  Empress  Tse  Hsi's 
orders  after  the  Coup  dEtat  of  1898,  when  she 
forbade  all  societies.  In  one  house  all  the  four 
sons  had  distinguished  themselves  at  the  examin- 
ations, all  had  taken  the  first  degree  of  Budding 
Talent,  one  having  passed  first  of  his  year,  and 
having  therefore  just  received  an  invitation  to 
Peking  to  instruct  the  Manchus  there  ;  whilst  the 
eldest  son  had  already  taken  the  second  degree. 
There  I  was  gratified  by  finding  my  portrait  in  a 
Chinese  magazine  laid  open  on  the  table,  evidently 
with  the  idea  of  being  complimentary.  And  it 
seemed  curious  for  once  in  a  way  to  find  people 
in  China  doing  just  what  they  would  in  Europe. 

Although  feet  are  not  bound  very  small  at 
Swatow,  those  that  were  exhibited  to  me  at  the 
various  meetings  by  women  who  wished  to 
unbind,  were  certainly  sufficiently  revolting,  and 
during  all  the  evening  afterwards  I  could  not 
recover  from  the  painful  impression  made  by 
one. 

At  bright,  beautiful  Amoy  the  anti-footbinding 
movement  has  for  about  twenty  years  been 
nurtured  and  watched  over  by  Mr  McGowan,  who 
has  now  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  all  the  many 
Christian  women  of  the  place  unbound,  and  shod 
with  what  certainly  is  the  neatest  Chinese  shoe  I 
have  seen.  At  Canton  the  women  with  natural 
feet  wear  what  is  called  the  boat  shoe,  being 


THROUGH  MACAO,  SWATOW,  AMOY,  ETC.    283 

shaped  like  the  bottom  of  a  boat,  on  which  they 
can  balance  backwards  and  forwards.  Boat- 
women  and  working  women  do  not  bind  there, 
which  has  given  the  foreigner,  who  so  often  gets 
his  idea  of  a  Chinese  city  from  Canton,  the  im- 
pression that  this  is  the  case  all  through  China. 
Alas !  in  the  West  women  even  track  boats  with 
bound,  hoof-like  feet,  besides  carrying  water, 
whilst  in  the  north  the  unfortunate  working  women 
do  field  work,  often  kneeling  on  the  heavy  clay 
soil,  because  they  are  incapable  of  standing.  It 
is  only  at  Canton  that  bound  feet  are  in  any  sense 
a  mark  of  gentility,  though  in  Shanghai  and  many 
other  parts  they  are  a  sign  of  respectability.  The 
more  distinguished  ladies  in  Hong- Kong  or 
Canton  who  do  not  bind,  wear  the  other — the  clog- 
like — Manchu  shoe  with  a  very  high  heel  quite  in 
the  centre  of  the  foot.  But  at  Amoy  under  the 
training  of  the  missionaries  a  very  neat  little  shoe 
has  been  devised,  such  as  would  give  any  foot  a 
very  dapper  appearance. 

At  Amoy  it  had  been  decided  from  the  first 
that  an  effort  should  be  made  to  interest  the 
officials,  an  impossibility  at  Swatow,  as  there  were 
none  there.  But  there  the  language  difficulty, 
great  all  through  China,  but  greater  in  the  south, 
reached  its  climax,  for  it  was  pronounced  necessary 
there  to  have  two  interpreters,  one  who  should 
translate  into  Mandarin,  the  language  of  the 


284     IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

officials,  one  to  interpret  for  the  Amoy  people,  who 
speak  an  altogether  different  sounding  language. 
Already  at  Swatow  I  had  found  that  my  Ningpo 
servant,  who  could  speak  a  little  Mandarin,  and  had 
also  succeeded  generally  in  making  himself  under- 
stood at  Canton  and  Macao,  though  he  could  not 
often  understand  the  people  of  those  places,  was 
in  difficulties.  At  Amoy  he  was,  as  he  afterwards 
said,  like  a  dumb  man,  having  no  one  but  me  to 
speak  to :  even  at  Foochow  being  better  off, 
because  one  of  the  servants  at  the  Consulate, 
where  we  stayed,  was  from  afar.  And  Amoy  was 
the  only  place  where  I  spoke  through  two  inter- 
preters, though  this  was  because  at  Foochow  none 
of  the  local  Chinese  were  invited  to  the  official's 
gathering,  otherwise  I  must  have  done  so  there 
also. 

The  Taotai  at  Amoy  was  of  the  conquering 
Manchu  race,  which  never  binds,  therefore  he 
wore  an  air  of  complete  sympathy  and  approval  at 
the  meeting,  which  he  was  good  enough  to  attend 
at  the  Club  Theatre.  Several  other  Chinese 
officials  and  men  of  wealth  and  standing  were  also 
there,  all  invited  by  the  British  Consul  General. 
Several  gave  handsome  money  contributions,  gave 
in  their  names  as  members,  and  promised  co-opera- 
tion, the  Taotai  even  undertaking  to  placard  the 
Viceroy  Chang  Chih  Tung's  words  against  foot- 
binding  all  through  the  city.  A  ladies'  meeting 


THROUGH  MACAO,  SWATOW,  AMOY,  ETC.    285 

was  hardly  so  satisfactory,  still  the  fact  that  it 
came  off  at  all  was  something,  for  the  meeting 
was  held  on  the  island  covered  with  foreign  villas 
and  gardens,  whereas  all  the  Chinese  live  in  the 
great  city  of  Amoy  across  a  considerable  stretch 
of  sea,  and  not  being  in  the  habit  of  coming  out, 
the  bare  idea  of  crossing  the  sea  on  a  rather 
tempestuous  day  must  have  appeared  most  alarm- 
ing to  them,  especially  when  it  was  in  order  to  go 
into  a  foreign  house. 

The  roughest  voyage  I  had  yet  had  took  me 
from  Amoy  to  Foochow,  and  there  real  hard  work 
began.  The  schools  and  the  Christian  congrega- 
tions had  all  mustered  in  force  in  Amoy,  but 
were  all  unbound,  so  that  it  was  only  necessary 
to  cheer  them  on  there,  and  the  schools  there  are 
as  nothing  compared  with  the  schools  at  Foochow, 
which  is  a  regular  centre  of  education.  Then  the 
island  at  Amoy  is  so  small  it  is  but  like  one 
big  flowerful  garden,  whereas  at  Foochow  the 
distances  are  enormous.  And  to  add  to  it  all,  it 
poured  nearly  all  the  time  I  was  there.  Thus  I 
could  never  really  see  the  mountains,  which  have 
led  to  this  port  being  the  most  renowned  for 
scenery  of  any  in  China,  but  was  for  ever  being 
carried  backwards  and  forwards  in  dripping  rain 
through  the  longest,  dirtiest  and  narrowest  streets 
of  the  Chinese  city. 

It  was,  however,  delightful  to  see  the  great 


286    IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

colleges  that  the  Americans  especially  have  started 
in  Foochow.  There  is  always  one  remarkable 
feature  about  their  educational  establishments, 
and  that  is  the  teaching  of  Chinese  young  men 
to  such  a  large  extent  by  American  women.  I 
am  still  sufficiently  English  to  find  it  very  odd, 
but  as  far  as  I  can  judge  it  seems  to  work  very 
well,  softening  and  stimulating  the  Chinese  young 
men  as  I  fancy  nothing  else  could.  One  of  the 
students  at  the  college  interpreted  for  me,  and 
was  pronounced  by  two  or  three  severely  critical 
Sinologues  the  very  best  interpreter  they  had 
ever  come  across.  And  the  occasion  when  they 
heard  him  was  at  a  very  trying  meeting  for  the 
young  man,  for  I  accomplished  another  long- 
cherished  desire  at  Foochow,  and  addressed  a 
meeting  in  a  Guild  hall. 

All  through  China  there  is  a  most  complicated 
organisation  of  guilds,  far  surpassing  that  in 
Europe  during  the  Middle  Ages,  and  the  build- 
ings where  they  meet,  hold  their  clubs  and  give 
their  dinners  and  theatricals,  are  generally  the 
great  ornament  of  Chinese  cities,  vying  with,  if 
not  surpassing,  the  temples.  I  had  long  wished, 
if  it  were  possible,  to  hold  an  anti-footbinding 
meeting  in  one  of  them,  and  this  dream  of  mine 
became  realised  at  Foochow.  There  was  a  great 
hesitancy  at  first  as  to  which  picturesque  courtyard 
would  be  best  adapted  for  the  purpose,  and  at  the 


THROUGH  MACAO,  SWATOW,  AMOY,  ETC.    287 

time  appointed  we  wandered  from  one  to  the 
other,  followed  by  a  little  but  ever-growing 
audience  till  at  last  we  settled  down  into  one. 
The  far  end  was  open  to  the  evening  sky,  and 
there  a  certain  number  of  women  actually  found  a 
standing  place.  We  took  the  place  of  honour  at 
the  opposite  end,  a  few  leading  people  sat  in  the 
two  rows  of  large  chairs  down  the  middle  of  the 
hall  fronting  one  another,  but  the  bulk  of  the 
audience  stood,  and  by  some  process  of  natural 
selection  men  of  the  literary  class,  sad-faced, 
young  reformers,  stood  to  the  right,  men  of  the 
mercantile  class,  jolly-looking  compradors  and 
prosperous  merchants,  all  men  who,  by  mixture 
with  foreigners,  have  learnt  to  think  scorn  of  old 
barbarous  ways,  stood  to  the  left.  No  one  would 
speak.  But  when  those  who  wished  footbinding 
done  away  were  asked  to  hold  up  their  hands, 
up  went  all  the  hands  at  arm's  length  from  the 
literary  side.  It  was  an  impressive  sight  in  the 
fast-waning  daylight.  They  all  looked  so  sad 
and  appeared  so  voiceless.  Among  the  six  young 
men  put  to  death  by  the  ruthless  Tse  Hsi  at  the 
Coup  d'Etat  in  1898  had  been  their  youthful 
leader  Lin,  who  was  fast  winning  over  all 
Foochow  to  not  binding,  when  he  met  his 
untimely  end.  No  one  liked  to  name  him,  but 
everyone  thought  of  him.  But  the  other  day 
he  was  one  of  them.  The  mercantile  side 


288     IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

seemed   equally  of  one  mind,   but  less  enthusi- 
astically so. 

One  of  the  merchants  had  asked  us  to  visit  his 
wife  and  see  if  we  could  persuade  her  to  desist 
from  binding  their  one  little  girl,  saying  that  he 
would  ask  several  ladies  to  meet  us  there.  This 
last  part  did  not  come  off,  but  we  had  seen  the 
wife  and  child,  and  received  a  very  painful 
impression.  The  child  was  a  frail  little  thing 
with  even  darker  rings  than  ordinary  under  the 
process  beneath  her  eyes,  and  a  face  that  seemed 
all  suffering,  yet  with  especially  winning  pretty 
little  ways.  Our  hearts  were  drawn  out  towards 
the  child,  and  from  her  delicate  appearance  we 
did  not  think  it  possible  she  should  live  if  the 
mutilation  of  her  feet  were  continued,  even  if  it 
were  possible  yet  to  save  her.  So  as  the  mother 
declared  that  she  knew  it  was  too  much  for  her 
child,  and  that  she  meant  to  unbind  her  feet,  I 
said  as  persuasively  as  I  knew  how,  "  Why  not  do 
it  now  ?  Would  you  allow  me  the  pleasure  of 
beginning  ? "  As  the  mother  did  not  object,  I 
touched  the  child's  bandages  with  of  course  the 
intention  of  getting  them  somewhat  loosened,  and 
so  giving  her  comparative  ease.  Naturally  one 
would  not  dare  to  remove  them  altogether  at  once. 
But  the  poor  little  girl,  who  had  never  had  her 
bandages  touched  except  to  tighten  them,  cried 
out  and  looked  at  me  with  an  expression  of  such 


THROUGH  MACAO,  SWATOW,  AMOY,  ETC.    289 

hopeless  agony  as  I  had  never  seen  on  a  child's 
face  and  hope  never  to  see  again.  She  looked 
me  right  in  the  eyes  as  Chinese  so  rarely  do  and 
her  eyes  said  to  mine,  "  I  cannot  bear  it.  I  know 
I  cannot.  I  am  powerless  to  save  myself  from 
you.  But^\\.  is  more  than  I  can  bear."  That 
expression  of  helpless  rage  and  agony  and  hate  in 
the  poor  little  wizened  child's  face  is  more  than  I 
can  ever  hope  to  forget,  and  would  alone  spur  me 
on  to  redoubled  efforts  to  do  away  with  a  custom, 
that  has  been  more  than  so  many  children  can 
endure,  and  that  must  have  saturated  so  many 
childish  souls  with  bitterness,  before  they  passed 
away  from  a  world  made  impossible  for  them. 
The  anguished  eyes  of  that  little  one  plead  with  a 
power  and  a  pathos  beyond  words.  Would  her 
mother  yet  unbind  her  feet  ?  And  even  so  was 
it  not  already  too  late  ?  And  even  if  not,  how 
many  thousands,  nay,  millions  of  little  girls  have 
been,  are,  and  will  be  in  like  case,  unless  this 
practice  of  torturing  tender  little  girls,  that  they 
may  eventually  win  favour  in  the  eyes  of  men 
of  vitiated  taste  by  the  exaggeration  of  their 
deformity  can  be  brought  to  an  end  ? 

The  young  men  at  the  great  Methodist 
Episcopal  College,  one  of  the  educational  institu- 
tions that  has  impressed  me  more  favourably  than 
any  I  have  visited  in  China,  although  I  hardly 
myself  know  why,  loudly  and  almost  violently 


2go     IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

proclaimed  their  horror  of  the  practice.  So  did 
the  young  men  at  the  smaller  American  Board 
College  within  Foochow  city.  The  other  is  out- 
side in  the  foreign  settlement.  But  when  the 
ladies  of  the  Church  Mission  gave  a  great  party, 
all  the  ladies  they  invited  were  painfully  bound, 
and  all  I  asked  said  they  themselves  knew  girls  both 
whose  feet  had  mortified  off  through  binding. 

It  was  like  an  illustration  to  the  lecture  to  see 
the  frail-looking  Foochow  ladies  tottering  on 
their  bound  feet,  watched  over  and  eventually 
supported  away  by  their  slaves,  who,  like  the  field 
women  of  Foochow,  look  like  Amazons,  with 
their  silver  sword-like  hair-pins  and  huge  ear-rings. 
Folding  their  well-developed  arms  across  their 
bosoms  and  at  least  a  head  and  shoulders  taller 
than  their  bound-foot  mistresses,  they  look  indeed 
as  if  they  were  of  another  and  more  stalwart  race 
by  some  charm  attracted  to  serve  and  minister  to 
pigmies. 

If  Foochow  society  be  a  sample  of  Chinese 
good  society  throughout  the  Empire  what  a  mass 
of  mortified  feet  there  must  be !  And  there  are 
besides  the  innumerable  girls  who  die  of  paralysis, 
eczema,  and  other  illnesses,  one  in  ten  of  the  girls 
of  China  according  to  Chinese  computation.  But 
the  head  sister  of  the  great  Italian  school  and 
home  at  Hankow,  numbering  of  late  seven  hundred 
souls,  and  of  which  she  had  been  head  for  about 


To  face  page  290.] 


FOOCHOW    FIELD    WOMAN    SELLING   VEGETABLES. 
Note  the  sword  hair-pins,  earrings  and  short  coating. 


[By  Mr  Mencctrini. 


THROUGH  MACAO,  SWATOW,  AMOY,  ETC.    291 

thirty  years,  told  me  before  her  death  she  thought 
this  very  much  under  the  mark  for  her  part  of 
China.  I  chiefly  remember  this  Church  Mission 
meeting  from  the  lovely  flower  arrangements, 
pretty  European  dresses,  and  picturesque  houses. 
This  Mission  adapts  Chinese  buildings  to  its 
requirements  instead  of  insisting  upon  forcing 
the  architecture  of  an  English  conventicle  and 
lodging-house  or  even  church  together  with  the 
beautiful  gospel,  that  originally  came  to  us  from 
the  beauty-loving  East,  upon  the  great  Chinese 
nation,  to  whom  decorative  design  is  so  much  a 
matter  of  necessity  that  hardly  the  meanest 
cottager  builds  without  it.  Mission  work  has  so 
often  repelled  me  by  its  intense  ugliness  that  it 
was  quite  a  relief  to  find  it  as  pretty  as  heathenism 
at  Foochow,  and  far  more  pleasing  from  being 
cleanly  and  in  good  order.  And  I  recalled  again 
the  women's  hospital  put  up  by  the  Church  Mission 
at  Ningpo,  as  eye-pleasing  a  bit  of  architecture 
as  any  to  be  seen  in  China  in  spite  of  its  simplicity, 
and  probably  far  more  comfortable  for  Chinese 
inmates  from  being  built  in  accordance  with  their 
customs,  not  ours.  Foochow  is  commonly  reckoned 
the  most  beautiful  port  in  China  from  its  surround- 
ing scenery  and  the  delightful  river  and  mountain 
excursions  that  can  be  made  from  it.  All  this  I 
could  not  see  because  of  the  pouring  rain,  but  as 
a  great  educational  centre  it  was  most  striking. 


292     IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

Few  people  either  in  England  or  America  can 
have  any  idea  what  great  things  are  being  done 
there  by  well-trained  teachers  of  various  modes 
of  thought,  but  all  alike  ardent  educators.  In 
the  young  men  and  women  being  educated  by 
missionaries,  who  are  too  much  absorbed  in  their 
work  to  be  much  talked  about,  lies  probably  the 
hope  of  China,  if  there  be  a  hope  now,  when  all 
the  nations  of  Europe  are  striving  to  snatch  some 
of  the  spoil  out  of  the  hands  of  the  long  effete 
Manchu  Dynasty. 

The  Viceroy  of  Foochow  was  a  very  aged 
man,  and  at  that  time  much  beset  by  the  claims 
of  various  European  admirals,  so  that  I  did  not 
see  him,  but  the  Taotai  invited  us  to  the  Board 
of  Foreign  Affairs,  where  he  and  eight  other  high 
officials,  among  them  the  Salt  Commissioner,  the 
Treasurer  and  Governor  of  the  city  received  us 
in  the  picturesque  Chinese  building,  and  then  led 
us  into  a  dining-room,  arranged  in  the  foreign 
style,  where  they  entertained  us  at  an  elegant 
collation.  They  seemed  very  favourably  dis- 
posed towards  the  movement,  but  there  was  a 
certain  reticence  in  their  manner,  fully  explained 
by  the  terrible  events  that  have  since  occurred 
in  North  China,  and  of  the  preparation  for  which 
they  were  probably  well  informed,  as  we  were 
not.  It  was  then,  however,  the  Taotai  paid  me 
the  grandest  compliment  I  can  ever  hope  to 


THROUGH  MACAO,  SWATOW,  AMOY,  ETC.    293 

receive,  when  suddenly  looking  fixedly  at  me  he 
said,  "  You  are  just  like  Kwanyin  Pusa "  (the 
Chinese  Goddess  of  Mercy).  "  Hitherto  we 
Chinese  have  had  but  one  Kwanyin.  But  now 
we  have  two.  You  are  the  second."  There  was 
however  a  curious  twinkle  in  his  eyes  when  I 
asked  if  his  little  daughter  were  bound,  and  he 
answered  me,  "  No !  oh,  no  !  "  I  guessed  what 
it  meant,  and  turned  quickly  to  the  official  on  my 
other  hand,  who  blushed  deeply,  as  he  had  to 
confess  that  all  his  daughters  were  bound.  Then 
it  was  the  Treasurer  scored,  when  with  great 
solemnity  he  said  across  the  table,  "The  women 
of  my  family  have  not  been  bound  for  two  hundred 
years."  His  family  was  one  of  the  Chinese 
bannermen,  and  being  thus  mixed  up  with 
Manchu  bannermen  has  to  conform  to  Manchu 
usage.  But  the  Taotai  felt  in  honour  bound  to 
explain  to  the  young  Consul,  who  had  kindly 
arranged  everything  he  could  for  me  in  Foo- 
chow,  that  he  himself  had  deceived  me,  for  his 
little  girl  was  only  three  years  old,  much  too 
young  to  be  bound,  under  any  circumstances. 
Let  us  hope  however  that  she  never  has  been. 

A  rough  little  voyage  back  to  Shanghai,  and 
then  after  a  brief  period  of  rest  I  started  off  on  a 
circular  tour  to  Hangchow  and  Soochow,  the  two 
great  centres  of  fashion  in  China :  Hangchow 
the  capital  of  the  province  of  which  Ningpo  is  the 


294     IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

commercial  port,  and  at  one  time  the  capital  of 
China,  and   Soochow  capital  of  the  province  in 
which  Shanghai  is  situated.     Almost  at  my  own 
door  I  got  into  a  boat,  towed  by  one  of  the  little 
steam  tugs  that  daily  make  the  journey,  and  next 
night  after  a  voyage  through  most  monotonous 
country  recalling  the  low  country  of  Europe,  and 
only  varied   by  innumerable   stone   bridges  and 
memorial  arches,  arrived  at   Hangchow,   one  of 
the  most  interesting  cities  of  China.     The  Taotai 
there  again  received  us  at  the  Board  of  Foreign 
Affairs,  far  prettier  than  that  at  Foochow,  being 
situated  in  a  most  fantastic  garden,  full  of  rocks 
and  with  a  fine  wistaria  hanging  its  tresses  of 
fragrant,  lilac  flowers  over  a  corridor,  made  like 
the  bridges  in  the  Shanghai  city  tea  garden  in  a 
variety  of  different  slants.     It  was  however  again 
pouring,  so  we  had  to  hurry  into  the  entrance 
hall,  where  we  were  received  by  the  Taotai  and 
only  two  other   high  officials,   although  a  good 
many  minor  ones.     After  the  Consul's  wife  and 
I    had   out  of  deference   to   foreign    ideas   been 
placed  in  the  seats  of  honour   on  the  dais  we 
were  conducted  again  to  a  collation  in  the  foreign 
style,  and  there  the  Taotai  made  our  hearts  glad 
by  telling  us  his  wife  and  all  the  women  members 
of  his  household  had  unbound  feet.     He  was  also 
quite  eager  himself  to  undertake  placarding  the 
city  with  the  Viceroy  Chang  Chih  Tung's  most 


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THROUGH  MACAO,  SWATOW,  AMOY,  ETC.    295 

cogent  arguments  against  footbinding,  though 
this  had  to  be  abandoned  afterwards,  owing  to 
the  Viceroy's  having  evidently  written  this  paper 
at  the  request  of  his  then  particular  friend  Mr 
Liang,  and  twice  speaking  of  him  by  name.  As 
Mr  Liang,  late  editor  of  Chinese  Progress,  and 
such  a  master  of  style  that  many  literary  Chinese 
say  on  reading  any  of  his  writings  their  eyes  brim 
over  with  tears  of  admiration,  had  been  con- 
demned to  death  by  Tse  Hsi  and  moved  about 
with  a  price  put  upon  his  head,  it  would  not  do 
for  a  Taotai  now  officially  to  put  forth  to  the 
world  any  paper  containing  his  name.  Under 
these  circumstances  we  applied  to  Chang  Chih 
Tung  to  alter  his  essay  so  that  we  could  still  use 
it,  not  daring  to  change  it  ourselves,  as  to  alter 
even  a  word  in  a  Chinese  essay  would  be  as 
heinous  as  to  change  the  words  in  one  of  Milton's 
sonnets.  The  Viceroy  said  he  would  as  soon  as 
he  had  time.  That  was  late  in  May,  and  in  June 
the  Empress's  edict  was  out  for  the  annihilation 
of  all  foreigners,  the  legations  were  besieged  in 
Peking,  and  it  would  be  unreasonable  to  suppose 
that  either  of  the  two  great  Yangtze  Viceroys  had 
leisure  to  write  or  correct  an  essay. 

Besides  other  meetings  there  was  a  very 
lovely  gathering  of  Hangchow  ladies  one  after- 
noon. Curiously  enough  they  mostly  came  in  the 
most  exquisite  brocades  of  the  same  delicate  rose 


296     IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

colour,  which  made  a  fine  contrast  with  the 
beautiful  green  jade  ornaments,  with  which  their 
dark  hair  was  somewhat  loaded.  For  the  most 
part  they  seemed  too  much  occupied  with  their 
finery  to  pay  much  attention.  But  to  be  quite 
frank  it  must  be  recorded  that  one  of  the  most 
beautifully  dressed  there,  a  girl  of  about  nineteen, 
daughter  of  one  of  the  leading  families  of  the 
place,  if  not  the  leading  family,  asserted  she  could 
run  and  jump  about  with  bound  feet,  and  pro- 
ceeded to  do  so,  taking  hold  of  my  hand,  and 
executing  some  of  the  most  startling  gambades 
and  leaps.  She  was  a  plump  young  lady,  and  I 
could  not  help  thinking  must  be  suffering  terribly 
afterwards,  but  she  declared  she  was  not  in  the 
least  tired,  and  her  face  certainly  showed  no  signs 
of  suffering.  I  could  not  have  believed  it  possible 
that  anyone  with  deformed  feet,  and  her  feet  were 
bound  very  small  indeed,  could  have  executed 
such  leaps  and  gambols.  But  we  trembled  to 
think  what  must  come  of  so  much  suppressed 
energy  in  a  girl  evidently  brimming  over  with 
vitality  yet  cut  off  from  almost  all  natural  outlet. 
As  she  is  very  rich  possibly  the  bicycle  will  come 
to  her  relief,  as  there  seems  to  be  no  definite 
reason  why  a  girl  with  bound  feet  should  not 
ride,  though  a  fall  would  probably  be  very  serious 
in  her  case. 

My   visit    to    Soochow   was    altogether    ex- 


THROUGH  MACAO,  SWATOW,  AMOY,  ETC.    297 

ceptional ;  the  officials  were  all  being  changed, 
there  could  therefore  be  no  official  reception,  for 
as  in  Ningpo,  when  I  visited  that  place,  those 
who  were  there  were  all  busy  going  out  to  meet 
those  who  were  arriving.  An  American  doctor 
kindly  invited  me  to  meet  his  medical  students, 
whom  I  was  at  last  able  to  address  in  English 
without  an  interpreter,  although  it  was  not  quite 
clear  that  they  all  understood  fully,  the  words  I 
used  being  necessarily  different  from  those  they 
were  accustomed  to  in  their  medical  studies,  and 
the  difference  between  English  and  American 
accents  very  puzzling.  Here,  however,  for  the 
first  time  on  asking  if  there  was  anything  to  be 
urged  in  favour  of  footbinding,  two  young  men 
had  the  courage  of  their  opinions  and  maintained 
that  there  was — "  It  was  pretty !  "  When  I  heard 
afterwards  that  they  were  both  engaged  to  girls 
with  small  bound  feet  I  felt  almost  sorry  for  the 
confusion  into  which  I  probably  threw  them  by 
asking  whether  it  was  the  shoes,  which  were 
certainly  pretty,  that  they  meant,  or  the  feet 
inside  them,  which  in  every  case,  where  I  had 
seen  them,  were  horrible  to  look  at,  for  of  course 
they  had  never  seen  the  girls'  feet  and  probably 
every  Chinese,  when  he  fondles  the  feet  of  his 
bride,  likes  to  imagine  that  they  are  all  that  they 
appear  -  -  tiny,  satin  clad  and  beautifully  em- 
broidered. The  other  medical  students  were, 
u 


298    IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

however,  eager  to  form  themselves  into  an  anti- 
footbinding  society,  and  after  a  meeting  of  Chinese 
men  held  next  day,  the  audience  at  once  convened 
another  meeting  themselves  and  decided  to  form 
themselves  into  a  society  to  work  upon  all  the 
rich  silk  dealing  towns  round  about  Foochow  and 
to  keep  the  newspapers  au  courant  of  the  move- 
ment. They  sent  round  two  representatives  to 
ask  if  they  could  have  the  use  of  the  Hospital 
Chapel  for  monthly  meetings,  as  if  not  they  would 
select  another  place,  but  they  thought  that  the 
most  convenient.  Their  earnestness  and  eager- 
ness were  most  remarkable,  for  Soochow  is 
reckoned  the  Paris  of  China,  and  I  had  been 
warned  that  I  should  find  the  people  caring  for 
nothing  but  dress  and  fashion.  The  ladies' 
meeting  really  looked  like  it  at  first.  They  were 
all  so  very  elegantly  dressed,  and  seemed  to  have 
so  many  smiles  and  pretty  greetings  for  one 
another.  They  were  decidedly  pretty — and  I 
had  lived  fifteen  years  in  China  disbelieving  in 
the  possibility  of  a  pretty  Chinese  woman — and 
they  were  for  the  most  part  very  piquante. 
Curiously  enough  they  were  all  in  a  very  delicate 
shade  of  blue  just  as  the  Hangchow  ladies  were 
all  in  rose  colour,  but  the  cut  was  the  same,  very 
much  tighter  than  we  are  accustomed  to  in  the 
west  of  China,  approximating  to  the  English  coat, 
and  with  the  trimmings  placed  above  the  elbow 


THROUGH  MACAO,  SWATOW,  AMOY,  ETC.     299 

of  the  tight  coat  sleeve  instead  of  hanging  over 
the  wrists  round  a  sleeve  about  half  a  yard  wide. 
Indeed  the  dress  of  the  Hangchow  and  Soochow 
ladies,  which  may  be  called  the  present  style  of 
Chinese  ladies'  dress,  seems  just  as  near  perfection 
as  can  be  imagined.  It  is  exceedingly  pretty  and 
can  be  made  as  handsome  as  anyone  could  desire, 
yet  without  ceasing  to  be  modest  and  natural 
looking ;  in  this  way  showing  to  great  advantage 
beside  our  large  hats  pinned  on  to  one  side  of  our 
heads,  or  huge  angel  sleeves,  or  skirts  so  tight  as 
barely  to  cover  the  figure,  or  requiring  two  hands 
to  raise  them  when  walking.  It  must  be  exceed- 
ingly convenient  and  comfortable,  and  as  far  as 
dress  goes  I  should  certainly  be  in  favour  of 
English  ladies  copying  Soochow  ladies'  satin 
coats,  pretty  divided  skirts  (longitudinally  pleated 
skirts  made  in  two  pieces),  trousers  and  all  rather 
than  the  other  way.  The  shoes  are  just  the  one 
difficulty.  Two  Chinese  lady  doctors  of  my 
acquaintance  wear  European  leather  shoes. 

This  meeting  was  the  most  uncomfortably 
crowded  I  have  ever  addressed  ;  all  the  windows 
were  open,  but  they  were  crammed  with  heads  of 
people  who  wanted  to  see  and  hear,  yet  could  not 
get  into  the  chapel,  which  was  already  crowded 
to  suffocation.  Indeed  four  or  five  ladies  had  to 
leave  the  room  fainting  before  the  meeting  began. 
I  felt  as  if  I  had  not  succeeded  in  touching  the 


300     IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

hearts  of  the  ladies  of  Hangchow,  and  looking  at 
this  fashionable  crowd,  all  struggling  to  get  their 
parties  together  and  evidently  thinking  a  great 
deal  of  themselves  and  their  appearance,  yet  with 
that  charm  of  manner  that  is  so  perceptible  even 
where  one  cannot  understand  the  spoken  language, 
it  seemed  to  me  that  my  only  justification  for 
speaking  to  them  about  a  national  custom,  under 
which  every  one  of  themselves  was  suffering,  and 
about  which  of  necessity  they  must  know  so  much 
more  than  I  did,  was  its  enormity,  and  that  the 
only  way  under  the  circumstances  was  frankly  to 
speak  out  and  say  exactly  how  dreadful  I  thought 
it.  The  kind  lady,  who  interpreted  for  me,  did  so 
admirably,  born  and  bred  in  China  yet  without 
having  lost  her  American  vivacity,  her  heart  was 
also  deeply  interested.  When  we  both  paused 
exhausted — the  room  was  very  hot — one  of  the 
ladies  who  sat  in  the  front  row,  and  who  had 
struck  me  from  the  first  as  probably  the  leading 
lady  there,  said  in  short,  staccato  sentences  with  a 
definite  pause  between  each,  "  I  am  sick  and 
weary  of  the  whole  subject — I  am  tired  of  hear- 
ing of  my  feet — I  am  going  to  unbind  them  and 
join  your  society."  "No!  I  first!  I  first!"  cried  a 
very  sombrely-dressed  lady,  sitting  about  two  rows 
behind  her,  who  had  been  pointed  out  to  me  as 
the  most  literary  lady  there,  having  actually  com- 
posed essays,  of  which  her  husband  was  very 


THROUGH  MACAO,  SWATOW,  AMOY,  ETC.    301 

proud.     Then  a  Salt  Commissioner's  wife  asked 
for  associates'  tickets  for   five   members   of  her 
household,    whilst    several    younger    ladies   said 
somewhat  sadly,  though  with  quiet  dignity,  as  they 
bowed  themselves  out,  "  I  am  under  authority,  and 
therefore  not  free  to  act  without  first  asking  leave 
of  those   at   home."     Others  joined,    and   many 
were  the  promises  to  set  to  work  at  unbinding. 
So  that  I  left  Soochow  full  of  hopes  that,  if  this 
centre  of  fashion  thus  began  to  unbind,  a  strong 
impetus  would  be  given  to  the  movement.     But 
almost    directly    afterwards    came   the   so-called 
Boxer  rising  in  the   North,   and  the    Empress's 
orders  for  the  annihilation  of  all  foreigners,  thus 
all  left  Soochow  somewhat  precipitately,  and  prob- 
ably the  ladies  there  have  been  afraid  to  seem  to 
identify  themselves  with  the  reform  party  even  by 
unbinding.     But  perhaps  also  they  have  not.     For 
one  of  the  strangest  things  about  China  in  this 
Annus    Funestus    of   1900    has   been   the    calm 
courage   with    which    Chinese   have    done   what 
they   felt   disposed   to   do,    regardless   of  conse- 
quences, officials  in  many  cases  protecting  fugitive 
foreigners,  when  they  must  have  known  they  were 
endangering  their  own   lives  by  doing   so,    and 
quite  poor  and  unprotected  people  hazarding  this 
only   yet   more    frequently   and    daringly.       The 
Chinese  are  not  fond  of  fighting,  they  are  not  a 
combative    race,    but    neither    are     they    easily 


302     IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

rendered  afraid.  So  that  it  is  possible  that  that 
brilliant  company  of  Soochow  ladies  have  unbound 
just  as  they  said  they  intended  to  do.  Anyway 
we  cannot  doubt  but  that  at  great  cost  the  arma- 
ments of  Europe  have — all  unwittingly — been 
carrying  forward  the  work  our  society  was  attempt- 
ing with  much  attention  to  economy.  For  what 
chance  have  bound  feet  women  had  of  escaping 
infuriated  Boxers,  or  unrestrained  Russian  and 
French  soldiers  ?  Too  many  must  all  helplessly 
have  perished  not  to  have  afforded  a  terrible 
lesson  to  their  surviving  men  relations.  And  even 
during  the  Taiping  rebellion  the  men  in  various 
parts  pledged  themselves  never  again  to  permit 
the  binding  of  their  women's  feet,  so  awful  were 
the  massacres  and  wholesale  suicides  of  the  help- 
less bound  ones,  so  that  in  some  parts  to  this  day 
in  consequence  they  do  not  bind.  If  this  cruel 
practice  be  in  like  manner  swept  away  from  Chilhi, 
Shantung  and  Shansi,  appalling  though  the  horrors 
there  enacted,  the  mass  of  human  suffering  will  be  on 
the  whole  diminished,  for  wars  come  but  for  a  time, 
footbinding  has  slain  its  victims  for  centuries,  and 
year  in  year  out  has  continued  torturing.  The  poor 
bound  west  of  China,  where  all  women  are  bound, 
has  received  no  such  terrible  lesson.  God  grant 
that  without  this  it  may  yield  to  the  persuasions 
of  anti-footbinding  societies  foreign  or  Chinese! 
For  the  horrors  enacted  in  the  north,  though  they 


To  face  page  302.] 


WHAT    WE    HAD   TO   GET   OUR    BOAT   THROUGH. 

[By  Mrs  Cecil  Holliday. 


-    « 


THROUGH  MACAO,  SWATOW,  AMOY,  ETC.    303 

may  be  suppressed  in  official  reports,  and  passed 
over  in  strange  silence  by  the  European  Press, 
have  been  enough  to  make  even  war  corres- 
pondents shudder,  murmuring  sadly,  "It  has 
been  like  Hell  let  loose.  It  has  been  like  Hell." 
And  probably  no  other  expression  draws  nigh  to 
the  atrocities  perpetrated  both  by  Boxers  and 
alas !  also  by  so-called  Christian  men. 

If  the  women  of  the  future  be  thereby  saved 
good  will  have  come  out  of  the  evil,  for  the 
women  are  not  only  in  themselves  half  the  nation 
but  the  mothers  of  the  men.  If  the  women  be 
mutilated,  ignorant,  unhealthy,  so  will  be  the  sons 
they  bear  and  rear,  and  it  is  at  least  a  noteworthy 
fact  that,  since  footbinding  came  into  fashion,  no 
man  whom  the  Chinese  themselves  regard  as 
worthy  of  the  nation's  reverence  has  been  born 
to  the  Chinese  Empire.  Even  now  the  cry  is 
"  Where  is  the  man  ?  "  According  to  the  Chinese 
reckoning  the  time  is  indeed  already  over  passed 
for  a  fresh  Saviour  of  society  to  arise,  as  before 
at  various  different  epochs,  but  blindly  yet  all  ask 
"  Where  is  the  man  ?  " 

POSTSCRIPTUM 

In  1906  the  movement  had  been  so  advanced 
by  official  favour  and  Imperial  edict  and  not- 
binding  had  become  so  fashionable,  young  ladies 


304     IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  BLUE  GOWN 

of  high  degree  even  stuffing  their  shoes  to  make 
their  feet  appear  larger  than  they  really  were, 
that  at  a  vastly  over-crowded  Chinese  meeting  in 
Shanghai,  a  committee  of  Chinese  men  of  influ- 
ential position  took  over  the  direction  of  the 
movement  from  the  foreign  ladies  who  had 
hitherto  guided  it.  f  And  though  footbinding 
may  still  linger  on  amongst  the  ignorant  poor, 
in  remote  parts  this  curse  of  China  may  be 
considered  to  have  received  its  death-blow. 
Would  that  China's  other  curse,  opium  smoking, 
could  equally  easily  be  done  away  with !  But 
as  the  young  men  have  been  the  mainspring  in 
repressing  the  mutilation  of  little  girls,  so  the  women 
of  China,  now  set  upon  their  feet  again,  may  yet 
so  improve  home  life  as  in  their  turn  to  deal  a 
death-blow  to  this  great  national  vice. 

So  far  suffering,  opium  smoking  mothers  have 
borne  sons  predisposed  to  desire  opium.  With 
the  two  curses  gone  there  would  then  but  remain 
China's  sorrow,  the  Yellow  River,  to  contend 
against,  for  the  happy  days  of  Yao  and  Shun 
once  more  to  return  to  the  Land  of  the  Blue 
Gown,  which  may  yet  afford  us  such  an  example 
of  the  Christian  virtues  as  we  have  not  yet  even 
dreamt  of  in  Europe. 


COLSTON  AND  CO.   LTD.,   PRINTERS,   EDINBURGH 


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